Armageddon X
by Damiar
Summary: Jean and Scott Summers lead the next generation of X Men in the long anticipated war between mutants and humans. An epic full of many all original characters.
1. Genesis

_"Mutation--it is the key to our evolution. It has enabled us to evolve from a single-celled organism to the dominant specie on the planet. This process is slow, often taking thousands of years. But every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward."_

**-Professor Charles Xavier

* * *

**

Mankind has always been guilty of its crimes against itself. Some think that humanity is a lost cause. With wars and crimes of hate and genocide always in the mind of those corrupted by the power they've obtained, one begins to wonder. Weapons of mass destruction are at the fingertips of nearly every military power on the globe. Tension grows with time and when it snaps there may be nothing left of the sad excuse we call civilization. Our beautiful mountains will one day melt as wax, and our bridges will burn and fall into the rivers. We try, to no avail, to stop our upcoming peril, but the sea will turn to blood and the sun to darkness as this cold world plummets straight into Hell.

Hell--is there such a place? If there is such a place, what need is there of it? Earth is Hell, once a God-given gift to His _beautiful _creation--a paradise--now thrown into ruin from our own selfish pride and ambitions. Where is our hope? Where is our salvation in these bleak times? Why do we insist on continually killing our own, our brothers--our kindred. We may never know...

* * *

The years had been kind to Dr. Jean Grey-Summers. Even at forty-two years old she was still a beautiful, young-looking woman. Her hair was still extraordinarily red, her eyes as emerald as the day she was born. Her complexion had maintained throughout the years. She sat at the desk of a long-dead but not forgotten friend. Her drumming fingers sent a dull _ratta tat_ resounding in the otherwise quiet office. She looked out the window at the magnificent school grounds. The landscape was still lush and green. It was still as beautiful as the day that she'd arrived so many years ago...

Once a student herself, she was now the administrator of the school, the "School for Gifted Youngsters", as the sign so eloquently put it. She used to feel guilty about the somewhat misleading sign on the outside. It made it sound like it was a school for the intelligent-superior kids--smart kids. It was and could very well be that. There was a wonderful college preparatory program. Many of her students would be the future, doctors, lawyers and senators of tomorrow. Others...

It was a school for mutants. It was as haven of education for those who were born differently in this world. She herself was...a mutant. Some of the kids attending there eventually became part of a secret task force called the X-Men. The X-Men were a group of people who would use the gifts that come with their mutation to their own and everyone else's advantage. They would, rescue, war and mend. Jean, more importantly than the educational administrator for the school, was the leader of the X-Men. She took it upon herself to pick up where her mentor, Dr. Charles Xavier left off.

She worked closely alongside her husband, Scott, the general of the X-Men, to help train those who were eligible and interested to be the best. They had to be prepared for what was to come. Wars and rumors of wars were brewing. The war to be fought was one like no other the Earth's soil had ever seen. It was a war where mutants would defend themselves against the assaults of the non-mutants. From what Jean could gather, it would soon be illegal to live in a mutant in the United States of America. A nation-wide check was to be distributed; mutants had already been forced to register their powers to the local authorities. It wouldn't be long before mutant-kind would have to fight to defend their right to live in peace in America.

She felt her blood run cold as she knew that it wouldn't just be up to her, Scott and the other adult, X-Men veteran agents scattered around the world to fight the fight. It would come to the home front. It would be the children's fight too. She didn't want to see any of the kids die...but she'd would rather them die than have the God-given right of freedom be stripped from them like they were an animal. She would give up the air in her lungs to prevent that.

She reached out with her power and moved the coffee pot from across the room, through the air and over her cup. Holding the cup and pot steady with only the use of her power, she poured herself a fresh cup. She, without lifting a finger, put the coffee pot back on the burner where it belonged. Telekinesis gave her an unbelievable advantage in the world. She had long since developed her powers so much that she could lift up tanks and uproot trees from the ground with mere thought exertion. Her telepathic powers would now rival even Dr. Charles Xavier himself, if he were alive. She owed that all to his attentive training for her of course.

Telekinesis was actually the single most common side effect of human mutation. The next, but far distant, was telepathy in a long list to follow. The too effects, often accompanied each other. Many students were could do both equally as well, some had to develop one or the other, and other students still were incapable of doing both. She felt blessed to be strong in both, though her telepathy took a long time to fortify.

It reminded her of a young man enrolled into her school now; his name was Markas, and he was both a telekine and a telepath. She envied him a little bit, because he was able to command both equally as well. She had to work so hard with her telepathy when she was his age. He had a long way to go with his powers.

She closed her eyes and felt him approaching. She could hear his thoughts.

_Hello, Markas. You can come on in_, she thought-spoke to him.

_Why thank you, Mrs. Summers_, he replied. Four seconds later he opened the door, came in and sat down.

He always made her smile. He was a very awkward-looking fellow--handsome in his own, boyish way but still awkward. He was sixteen and his hairline was already severely receded. He'd no doubt be bald by the time he was thirty. His teeth protruded forward so it always looked like he was half-smiling. He was about five feet and nine inches tall, he weighed a good one-eighty but it was due to his constant physical training. He was as strong as any full-grown man and healthy as a horse. The thing that she liked most about his physique was his little blue eyes. Behind long, feminine eyelashes were two little blue beads that seemed content--no matter what.

"I came to talk about--"

"Use your telepathy!" Jean scolded. "You should be using it all the time to communicate. It will help you to develop it. It's just like working a muscle."

_Okay, you happy now?_ He joked.

_Yes, thank you. Now, what did you come to talk about?_

_My cousin, Caleb--the one that I mentioned to you before._

_The one who writes you from time to time?_ She asked.

_Yeah, that's the one. Anyway, he wrote to me again. He's not dealing too well with finding out he's a mutant...and neither are his parents,_ Markas explained.

_I see. Did he ask you to do something for him?_ Jean asked.

_Not really. It's more like he was venting and just telling me what's up. He's a senior and all of his friends have kind of abandoned him since they know he's a freak now,_ Markas said.

This was her one pet peeve with him. He insisted on calling mutants freaks, a word she detested. He said it because he didn't necessarily think it was a bad thing.

_Mutant,_ she corrected.

_Whatever, you know what I mean. I know your policy about students coming in mid-semester but I would like you to make an exception for him. He's living with strangers now, fellow-freaks--I mean mutants. He's trying to stay in school but they are the wrong kind of crowd, if you know what I mean. Can you help him out?_ Markas looked at her hopefully with his puppy-dog eyes.

_He's a senior, correct?_ Jean asked.

_Yes,_ Markas replied.

_Call Caleb and tell him about this place. I want you to see if he's interested first. If he wants to come then I'll talk to the other teachers and I'll see what we can do. But don't get his or your own hopes up,_ she said.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Summers! You don't know how much this means to me," Markas suddenly exclaimed aloud.

"Your welcome. Now, get back to class. I know your schedule and I know that your trying to skip my husband's field training exercises. Go," she said sternly, but with a smile. He obeyed and started to leave in an excited hurry.

"Markas, on more thing," Jean pondered.

"Mrs. Summers?" he turned and asked politely.

"What does he do?"

"He wants to be a music teacher," Markas replied with a smile.

"I mean his mutation. What does he _do_?" Jean asked.

"I can't answer you on a scientific level, but in short, causes these unbelievable intense and sometimes explosive vibrations," Markas said.

"How powerful?" Jean asked.

"If he tried he could knock a guy clean off his feet...but..."Markas hesitated.

"What?" Jean asked again.

"If he loses control, it can be really dangerous. You know the 'earthquake' that Midwestern Illinois just had?" He asked her. She knew where he was going but let him explain anyway.

"Yes," she said and gestured for him to go on.

"He broke the fault underground when he lost his temper in a fight. He punched the ground and put one of his...um vibrations into it," Markas said grimly. "This doesn't change your mind does it?" Markas looked at her pleadingly.

"No, of course not. This is just the place for him to learn to control a destructive power like that," Jean said, hoping that Markas wouldn't read the concern on her face--or in her mind for that matter.

He left without saying anything else. The Midwestern Illinois earthquake! The incident caused the deaths of several thousand people. She hoped that Caleb wasn't one of those angry kids who would fly off the handle and abuse his power whenever life treated him poorly. She'd _have_ to work with him, that much was for sure. She at least needed to talk to him before the Brotherhood found him.


	2. Rescue Plans

"Steady yourself, Isaac," Ororo said.

"I'm trying to! It just won't cooperate with me!" said the frustrated student. He was a very gifted young man but he was so impatient and temperamental. His _gift_ was very similar to her own. She was a weather witch and could manipulate it at will. While he could only change the pressures in the atmosphere and create wind, he might as well have been a wind god. He had the potential to make wind his slave. Now he was just developing his powers and could not control it very well at all.

The wind return to its normal state: a gentle breeze. He'd given up—again. His forehead had started to perspire. He really was trying. It almost seemed that the more that he practiced the worse he got. It discouraged Ororo sometimes too. She too, could manipulate the wind and apparently they communicated with the weather in the same way. She spent special time with him every day, helping and mentoring him.

They had a lot in common, Ororo and Isaac. Both were from African background and both could manipulate the weather to some extent. They differed when it came to the level of maturity. He was primarily concerned with girls his age and older at the Xavier institute. With that as his focus, it was no wonder that he wasn't working too well with his power.

"Maybe if you weren't too busy thinking about Serena, you would be able to concentrate on the task at hand," Ororo offered in a scolding tone. She forced herself to be firm with Isaac. She was sure to point out every mistake and every place for improvement. Part of the reason for that was that he did not take constructive criticism very well. She always followed up with her, "I believe in you," speech. She had never told him of his potential because she always assumed that he would one day more than surpass her own ability to manipulate the wind.

She recalled one day that he was out in the yard, practicing with his gift and he'd created such a powerful jet stream of wind that he'd pulled every leaf off of a tree. She was watching from the window. He had no idea anyone had saw him. Whenever she approached him about it he denied because he feared that he would get in trouble. She was in utter amazement.

Ororo didn't know if she was capable of ripping every leave off of a tree with her wind manipulation. She could certainly create a vortex or jet stream powerful enough to uproot the tree or break it half; it took an unbelievable amount of _control_ to be able to rip all of the leaves off but to keep every twig on the tree intact.

"I wasn't thinking about Serena!" he protested angrily.

"Right," she said with a smirk.

"I'll prove it! This time, I'll do it right," Isaac said turning the direction of the tractor tire in the middle of the yard. She wanted him to create a vortex powerful enough to lift it, which he was always able to successfully do, but she wanted him to exercise the control to keep it from being launched away towards a tree or building at a hundred miles per hour. In that aspect, he usually failed miserably.

She could feel the change as he began to intricately govern the laws of the wind with mere thoughts. She could almost see the very tight, yet powerful vortex begin to form. Before her very eyes, the tire lifted up off of the ground and began to twirl. When it began to spin a little bit awry he broadened the vortex momentarily and then brought it back in.

_Steady it_, she thought to her self. She wanted so badly to see her student succeed. Then, it happened, he completely steadied it. It was spinning in the air at an incredible velocity but it was staying in on place. It was about nine feet off of the ground.

"Good!" she exclaimed. She saw a smile cross his face. He tried to be cool and make it a smirk that said, "I told you so", but she could see his excitement.

"See, piece of cake," he said, still keeping the tire unbelievably steady.

"You know, I saw Serena kissing Jacob in the hall a week ago, she's such a little hussy—I don't know why you bother," Ororo lied, testing his concentration. Surely enough, the tire began to wobble again. She didn't think that it would be long before it was whipped through the air and she'd have to stop it from putting out a window.

"What? No way! You're making that up!" Isaac was a little upset.

"CONCENTRATE!" she protested angrily.

His face displayed his inward conflict. She could see he was putting his thoughts aside. The tire spun, wobbled and flipped at an unbelievable speed. Their turbulent mannerisms were becoming more and more violent with each passing second. Isaac was going to lose control of it.

Ororo prepared to steady it herself when she looked at it in disbelief. It was slowing down and coming back to its steady state. Isaac was actually maintaining control! Soon the tire was held still but still spinning in sync with the cyclone.

"Impressive. You've certainly improved," Ororo admitted.

"Serena was kissing Jake?" Isaac demanded. Surprisingly, the tire remained entirely steady.

"No. I made up that story to test your control. On the battlefield, plenty of things are going to happen that will break your concentration. You must learn to make your power like second nature. It must become like moving your arm, like breathing—completely and totally controlled," Ororo said.

"What? You lied! You're mean! You were setting me up to fail," Isaac said.

"Yes. Yes, I was. You have to learn some lessons only from failure. You didn't fail however. You've learned, improved and grown stronger. Now, it's time to reward you," she said with a grin.

"Reward me?" Isaac looked curios.

"I want you to wreck that tire into that farce wall I've set up over there," Ororo pointed. She nearly laughed out loud when she saw Isaac's face. "Use your power to propel the tire."

He moved his hands in a circular motion, a gesture that helped him focus what he wanted the wind to do. The tire twirled in the air and when he shot his hand forward it suddenly took off and a ridiculous speed. The wooden farce wall exploded and splintered and the tire skidded across the grass before slamming into a tree and coming to a stop. Isaac laughed hysterically with amusement.

"Lesson's over for today, Isaac. Go take it easy. We're going to try that again tomorrow," Ororo said.

Isaac ran off across the yard toward the basketball court, where he'd no doubt gloat about what he'd just done. He was so typical sometimes but Ororo liked him anyway.

_Ororo_, said a voice all too familiar in her head. It was the voice of her long-time best friend, Jean. Jean had opened a telepathic link between the two of them so that all Ororo had to do was speak or think and Jean could hear it and respond.

"What is it, Jean?" Ororo asked.

_I need you come inside. I'm calling a meeting; all classes are put on hold. I need to talk about something that has been brought to my attention_, Jean said.

"I'll be right there," Ororo said. Ororo started off at a trot and ended up in a full jog towards the Institute. Jean had sounded a little bit distraught. She could only wonder what was wrong.

* * *

Rogue was the last one to walk in the door, she observed. All of the other X-Men were sitting around in the board room waiting on her. None of them were upset or anything; they were just eager to start. She took her usual seat and looked at Jean for answers.

"I've called you all in here to ask you about a student transfer requested by Markas Bast. His cousin, Caleb O' Fallon, is having a hard time controlling the effects of his mutation. His parents have kicked him out, he's living with a band of mutants his age that are bad news, he's trying to stay in school and out of trouble—but failing miserably," Jean said.

"So what's the big deal? Bring him in," Ororo suggested.

"It's not that simple, Storm," said Scott. He always insisted on using their X-Men identities. Rogue always went by hers—no one ever called her Marie. Rogue was her name and had been for a long time. Names like Cyclops, Storm, and Iceman were a little peculiar. They'd all grown accustomed to Scott's way of things though.

"What's the problem?" Jubilation asked.

"You remember the Midwestern Illinois Earthquake that happened without warning or explanation?" Jean looked around the table.

"Yeah. What about it?" Rogue didn't like meetings and wanted to get everything done and over with.

"He caused it," Scott said. There were sighs and silence all around the room—another set of things that Rogue didn't like.

"How?" Remy had a knack for asking the dumbest questions.

"With his powers, duh," Rogue said, pushing her hair behind her ears. Remy shot her a glare.

"Apparently he releases some sort of ultra-powerful vibration from his body. He punched the ground and cause a vibration at the same time and shattered a plate," Jean explained.

"He just punched the ground?" Beast asked puzzled. Hank's was another whose X-name had stuck around as his identity. It was kind of hard to call a big, blue, furry behemoth, Hank. He didn't mind.

"Sounds like Mr. Caleb has a temper problem," Rogue said.

"That's exactly what Markas said about him. I'm torn here. I know the policy that I set up was that we didn't do mid-semester transfers. I also said that we would never turn away someone who needed help, especially this kind of help," Jean said. "I want to know what you would all think about taking him in. He wrote to Markas for help and Markas came to me before he informed Caleb about anything."

Rogue didn't like the idea. Caleb obviously had a seriously destructive force inside of him. He would be a danger to everyone and everything around him if he didn't know how to control a power of that magnitude. She immediately felt guilty. She was a danger to others around her when she'd come to the Xavier Institute with Logan so many years ago. She, to this day, could not make skin-to-skin contact with another living creature without robbing them of their life force. She was shy and withheld back then. She had a lot of anger stored up inside of her, just like this Caleb kid. Beast was able to give her incredible anger management therapy and now she had complete control over her emotions. Maybe he could do the same for Caleb.

"I don't like the idea of a destructive hot head on campus," Rogue said. Before she could go on, others jumped in to put their opinions on the table.

"I think that it would be far more dangerous to leave him on the prowl, surrounded by innocents," Scott said.

"He'd probably do more damage unsupervised then he would with us—or the Brotherhood," Ororo added.

"I thought of that too," Jean said. "If the Brotherhood finds out about him and his power they will try to use him to their gain. We can't have that," Jean concluded.

"Even if he is a little hotheaded, maybe Beast can help him with that," Rogue finally said.

"I thought you didn't like the idea," Remy said.

"I said that I didn't like the idea but I didn't finish. I was going to say that it is worth trying to bring him in and help him," Rogue countered.

"I guess that it is pretty much settled, then?" Scott looked around. "Any objections?"

"No objection, but I have a question or two," Ororo said.

"What?" Jean asked.

"Who's going to get him? Who's going to bring him here? Will he come to us?" Ororo threw some more discussion out on the table. Great, that was all Rogue needed. She had a class that she had to teach and the kids were already behind as it was.

"Markas, Scott and I will go and speak with him to see if he's even interested in the kind of help that we offer," Jean said.

"Okay. It's settled then. Is this meeting adjourned?" Rogue said with a mock smile.

"Not so fast, Rogue. We need to assign duties and substitutes for the Institute in Scott and my absence," Jean pointed out. Rogue sighed loudly. She was just in an irritable mood at that particular moment.

"Beast, you take Scott's classes in the morning, Bobby, you take the afternoon ones," Jean instructed.

"Okay."

"Sure thing."

"And Rogue, you take my Saturday class with the freshmen," Jean said. Rogue tried desperately not to display disdain. She didn't want to have to work on Saturdays—especially with freshmen.

"Fine," she said with as much enthusiasm as she could fake.

"Alright, it's settled. We leave at three o' clock this afternoon for Madison County Illinois," Jean said.

With that the meeting was adjourned and the X-Men went about to do their various teaching and preparation responsibilities. Luckily for Rogue, she and Bobby both had a free period—no students—no classes—no missions. It was just the two of them. They only had a slot like that two days a week so they cherished those times to be with one another.

They went into Rogue's humble quarters and sat on her love seat and cuddled. They were very careful not to touch each other skin to skin. The consequences of that would be dire. She and Bobby had made that mistake before. She'd shaken him up a few times—and nearly killed him once.

"What are you thinking about?" Bobby asked, out of nowhere.

"Nothing," she said without thinking. His question had caught her off guard.

"You're thinking about something," Bobby narrowed his eyes.

"How can you tell?" she asked with a smile.

"You frown when you think and your forehead does this cute little wrinkly thing when you do," he said flashing his own pearly whites.

"Honestly, I was thinking about what happened in Prague," she said. Bobby's smile dropped into a solemn stare. The two of them would never forget what happened in Prague.

"You mean about John?" he half-asked-half-corrected.

"You don't think he's still after you do you?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation.

"How can you be so sure?"

"He's crazy. He still holds a grudge and he won't stop until he makes me pay."

"When I touched you—even though I knew I was hurting you—killing you—it felt so good to connect with you." Rogue said.

"I wish that I could say the same," Bobby said honestly.

"Sorry," she said looking away.

"Don't be. I know it's hard. I know that it's never going to get any easier. I still love you. Just because I can't be as close as I want to you doesn't mean I'm going to abandon you," Bobby said.

"I certainly hope not," Rogue replied. "I know it's hard for you too, Bobby. You're so very affectionate and you really can't be with me."

"Let's talk about something else," Bobby said. "Let's talk about John again."

"What about him?"

"I should ask you that. You're the one who mentioned him," Bobby replied.

"It's been years since the fight. I thought for sure I'd killed him but you've seen the papers. Maybe he's given up. Maybe he knows he's met his match with you and me," Rogue said hopefully.

"No. He wants to be around when the war comes. He's still going to try to kill me, but he'll want to be on the front lines bringing his inferno with him wherever he goes," Bobby shifted on the love seat a little.

"Do you ever think that there won't be a war? That maybe mankind will just learn to accept us for the people that we are and we can all live in peace and harmony?"

"No. The war is coming and soon. They've already started to gather mutants in camps," she watched as Bobby's face tensed. He did that when he was mad.

"I don't think peace will happen anytime soon either. I just wish that war didn't have to come first," Rogue swallowed and looked longingly into his eyes.

"It does though—and we have to fight it. Jean's already said that she is going to organize rescue and release missions for those taken captive in Wyoming—those are for all of the "dangerous and unacceptable youths of America". All of those kids locked up like animals. It makes me sick," Bobby said. She could see his face tensing once more. If she had a nervous twitch or something like it then it would be showing too. The government had found a way to justify taking away people's freedom away from them and were putting it into effect—full force. Rogue knew that it was only a matter of time before the men in black helicopters showed up with their guns and anti-mutant weaponry. When that time came, Rogue would be ready to lay waste to any intruders with her deadly hands. She also knew that Bobby would turn any threat into a block of ice.

She almost welcomed the time with open arms. It would be a time to vent all of her anger and aggression towards a world that needed voices of dynamic reason.

Rogue suddenly shivered. There was a cool breeze coming in through the window that gave Rogue a chill. She got up and out of Bobby's arms and walked to the window to pull it closed. She listened and could swear that she heard the wind whisper, "war".

**_Meanwhile, underground _****_Manhattan Island_****_New York_****_…_**

A short, stocky and strikingly handsome man of about thirty years sat at a table gazing at his henchmen. He was delivering a mission speech. He looked proudly at the forces at his disposal. He'd train them well. His military and leadership background made him just the right man to train mutants to his advantage. He ran his fingers through his mustache and down through his goatee. He did this whenever he was thinking hard about something.

"Our inside man tells us that the Phoenix and Cyclops are going to be picking up that troubled young man causing earthquakes in Illinois. This is just the opportunity that we need to infiltrate the Xavier Institute. They will be weak, short staffed and Cerebro will be unguarded. You all will create a ruckus in the main hall and west wing. Grendel and I will go in through the sewer system to get into the underground facilities. From there, we should be able to get to Cerebro," the man explained.

"Mindflare, won't all of this ruckus get the attention of the MCA?" a young, Asian mutant known as Luminos asked.

"Yes. That is precisely what I want. This should be an in and out mission. If it is not successful, which is a scenario we must consider, then the MCA will investigate the Xavier institute and shut them down. That will make it even easier to get to Cerebro," the man explained.

"Why don't you want us killing them? It would be much easier to end their pathetic resistance. It will complicate the mission if we are trying to keep the fools alive," said another Asian young man. He and Luminos were brothers. This one was known as Zeus.

"I've been through this. If I am going to use them to do my dirty work I need them alive. The only way to gain our freedom is with the _uniting_ of mutantkind. I don't want to kill our brothers, Zeus. Do you understand?" Mindflare never really liked Zeus. He had to keep the guy around because of his power. His ability to generate and manipulate electricity made him a valuable asset to the Brotherhood.

"No, I don't understand. I'm supposed to trust and obey you Mindflare; that doesn't mean I have to agree," Zeus said. He was a belligerent little punk. He was tall and very thin. If it weren't for his electric ability, most any man could snap him in half. His brother was much the same way. His ability to use light as Zeus used electricity was astounding. The boy could move with light, giving him an uncanny speed advantage over any opponent. His ability to magnify the intensity of light and direct it to go where he wills was impressive as well. If he focused enough, he could burn a hole through six inches of solid steel. Mindflare doubted if Cyclops's eye beams could do as much even now.

Mindflare looked at his immediate team. This was not all of the mutants that he commanded; these were his hands—the ones he kept by his side at all times. There _names_ were Grendel, Luminos, Zeus, Aquas, Midas, and Exus.

Grendel was born with severely advanced regenerative capabilities and extra bones sharp as razors and equally as sharp that would pretrude from his wrists, elbows, knees and ankles. This gave him the ability to fight and climb with ease. His regenerative powers were unmatched. Mindflare gave him the name Grendel because of the legendary Anglo-Saxon creature that supposedly could not be killed by weapons.

Luminos was _one with light_. He could move with it, manipulate it, intensify it, and even become it. He could teleport anywhere as long as there was bright enough light for him to travel with. He was most effective on a day when the sun was shining brightly.

If Luminos was a god of light, then Zeus was undoubtedly and rightfully named after the Greek thunder god. Zeus could gather electricity in his own body, the static currents in the atmosphere and anything using electricity around him. He had been known to kill a man with single bolt of electricity.

Aquas was his mermaid, water goddess. She couldn't manipulate a body of water as the brothers could with their elements but she was a living an unending supply of it. She could emit high pressure jet streams from her body, and change the temperature from lukewarm to boiling hot. She couldn't freeze the water and did not do well with sub-zero temperatures. She could even materialize her body into liquid or vapor becoming next to impossible to detect.

Midas reminded Mindflare of a villain in a movie he'd seen long ago. This villain seemed to be made out of steel, able to morph its limbs to be different knives and stabbing weapons. It could also morph into the figure of someone or something else of the same size. Midas was nearly identical to this in every way except he was made of out gold. Thus the name, Midas was given.

Lastly was Exus, Mindflare's first protégé and certainly the most combat-experienced. Exus was, for lack of a better description, pollution. She could exhale a poisonous gas, hack up sticky-black acid, release a chemical-black smoke that was very similar to tear gas. Mindflare's favorite attribute was her poisonous stingers. Her fingernails were thin and pointed like a rose thorn. She could use them as projectiles. As her powers developed, so did the poison inside of her. As of now, the stinger wouldn't kill a strong adult with only one stinger, but it would incapacitate and temporarily paralyze any victim.

That was Mindflare's prized team: The Brotherhood. He had many other colleges and allies scattered throughout the world: deadly mutant agents that would work for money or a common cause. That is why he had invited Pyro to lead the attack on the Xavier institute. One, because he used to live there and he knew the place, and two because he had a score to settle with one of Jean Grey's X-Men. Pyro was also an old member of the Brotherhood when it was lead by Magneto.

"Mindflare, may I make a suggestion?" Aquas very politely asked.

"Certainly, what do you have to say?" Mindflare replied.

"The boy who caused the earthquake is powerful. He is very untamed and undisciplined but he can be taught. If he were to join us he would make a powerful ally," Aquas said.

"Dear Aquas, that's what I'm trying to do. If I can plug into Cerebro then I will _make_ him and all mutants our allies," Mindflare said.

"You also said that we should consider the scenario of failure. In that case, Summers is already on her way to woo the boy into joining up with them. She will no doubt teach him how to put a handle on that cannon he's got. He would make a formidable foe, one we cannot afford, if I may say," she said. She had a very good point. Mindflare had already searched her mind and new what he was thinking. Aquas had always been Mindflare's favorite so he humored her and let her finished.

"What would you suggest?" Mindflare asked.

"Send a few of us to go and talk to him. Even if he refuses we will bring him before you and _you_ can talk him into. Even if you fail in persuasion, you can always control him," Aquas pointed out.

"Your point is well taken, Aquas. You, Luminos and Grendel will go and retrieve him. Zeus, Exus and Midas will accompany Pyro to the Xavier institute. Remember, Zeus, you are under _his_ command. You will do what he says when he says," Mindflare made it abundantly clear. Zeus had an authority problem. It was best to nip things like that in the bud. In a striking coincidence Mindflare saw a familiar face in the upper right corner of his eye. From his table four screens, which were surveying every entrance and exit into Mindflare's humble, underground abode, could be seen. On the last one was a man that Mindflare knew to be thirty-four years old but who could easily pass for twenty-four was staring into the camera. Mindflare had built an elevator into a cement wall that was completely unnoticeable to the naked eye. Pyro knew where it was of course.

Mindflare used his power to move a button across the room that would send the elevator to retrieve their new guest. Mindflare could hear the elevator descending now, ushering in an old friend.

The Aussie walked in, he stood about five-foot-ten-inches tall, was built like a boxer and had the most strikingly yellow-blonde hair that Mindflare had ever encountered. He had that arrogant smirk on his face that he always wore.

"Long time no see, mate!" said Pyro with a tip of his head.

"Too long, old friend—I trust you're looking forward to this?" Mindflare asked.

"You bet your hairy arse I am! I'll do everything you want me to do but if I come across Iceman I will kill him," Pyro said.

"That's fine. I understand that the history with you two isn't exactly finished. Deal with him as you may, that's your bonus—your perk—leave the underground facility, namely Cerebro in tact. Infiltrate and contain, make way for me to sneak in and gain control of Cerebro," Mindflare restated.

"No worries mate! I get Iceman, you get your mind toy, and then we finally get to get this war started. I can't wait. The humans will pay for what they've done and will finally come to realize the fools that they are," Pyro said with a smile.

"I'm supposed to take orders from this guy? Mindflare put me in charge. He'll jeopardize the mission; he's on a personal vendetta!" Zeus had an outburst.

"You must be Brandon, eh mate?" Pyro narrowed his eyes and looked right a Zeus.

"It's _Zeus_," Zeus had completely died to his old name, he liked to say. No one but his brother ever called him Brandon. Mindflare had given Pyro detailed files on all of the members of the Brotherhood so that he'd know what he was working with.

"Fine, Zeus. Have you ever seen any _real_ combat boy? You ever put that power to use?" Pyro tested.

"Yes. You wanna find out just _how_ well I use it?" Zeus generated electricity and made his hand sparkle with brilliant, white electric currents. Pyro laughed aloud and turned his back to Zeus. Pyro took a step closer to Mindflare's table, trying to ignore and simultaneously get a rise out of Zeus at the same time. Pyro was getting ready to sit down when Zeus lashed out. He was going to grab the back of Pyro's neck and give him a horrible shock. Pyro, the more experienced fighter, sensed this coming, ducked the grab. Pyro whirled in a flash while catching Zeus's arm by the wrist, where he was safe from the electric shock. He spun Zeus's arm around the wrong way and put Zeus in submission. Pyro kicked and swept with his right leg to Zeus's left and kicked his feet out from underneath him. Because Pyro had done it with such force, for milliseconds in time, Zeus was completely horizontal in the air. With all of his might, Pyro punched Zeus in the gut. This maneuver sent Zeus flying through the air. With a dull thud, Zeus's body smacked against the concrete wall behind him.

Zeus let out a mighty cry of rage and frustration. He was climbing to his feet ready to go all out, throw down and electrocute Pyro. Pyro knew that Zeus wouldn't learn his lesson the first time so he unsheathed his shark Zippo. The tiny flame instantly became a raging inferno looking as if to engulf Zeus in its hellish flames. Instead the inferno formed into for revolving pillars around Zeus.

"I suggest you stand down boy and learn something from this. You see how easily I could have killed you. Let me tell you that there are more powerful mutants out there than me and if you want to survive, you'd better be really damn good, or have lots of friends," Pyro said.

Zeus let out another cry of rage and looked at Mindflare.

"Stand down, Zeus. Release him, Pyro," both did as commanded. Mindflare could tell that it was all that Zeus could do not to lash out again. Reading his mind proved that a thousand imaginative ways of Pyro dying was going through Zeus's head. Mindflare smiled at this. There was no in between with Zeus, and he kind of liked that. He either liked you, or didn't.

"Now, how are we going to get to the Xavier institute?" Pyro asked.

"We'll take the jet and parachute in. That is, you, Midas, Exus and Zeus will parachute. I will hide the jet and then by the time I arrive to the institute Cerebro will hopefully be accessible," Mindflare recapped.

"What about the others?" Pyro looked puzzled.

"They are going on another assignment, which reminds me of something. You know about the Midwestern Illinois earthquake?" Mindflare asked.

"Yeah, I heard. So what?" Pyro looked uninterested.

"A mutant caused that earthquake by punching the ground," Mindflare started to explain.

"So?" Now Pyro was wearing agitation on his sleeve.

"I want him for my team," Mindflare explained.

"What does this have to do with me?"

"Nothing directly," Mindflare explained.

"Then why are you telling me?" Pyro asked.

"From what I've gathered about this boy, he may be of some interest to someone you've had the privilege of working with recently," Mindflare said.

"Who?" Pyro was semi-interested now.

"Who do you think?" Mindflare thought about giving his mind a little prompt but hope that Pyro was bright enough to keep up with a simple conversation.

"Okay—but how? What would this kid have anything to do with the Hybrid?"

"That's what I'd like to find out. That is another reason that I'm so interested in obtaining this boy," Mindflare said.

"How do you know the Hybrid is interested in this kid at all?" Pyro asked.

"He called me directly following the earthquake. He's the one who told me about the X-Men trying to get a hold of him and told me about the chance to start our revolution," Mindflare said.

"The Hybrid called _you_?"

"Yes."

"This kid must be of some interest to him if he went through all of that trouble without charging you anything. The guy won't do anything without money," Pyro said.

"When I get the boy I'm going to try to keep it from the Hybrid as long as I can. If I can find a way to use Hybrid to my advantage, I'll have all the power I need to get things done," Mindflare said. He shifted with uneasiness just thinking about what the Hybrid could do if unleashed.

"I'd be careful doing that. Although having someone as powerful as him under your thumb would be a very nice thing, he will kill you if you try to do him dirty. He's good," Pyro understated.

"That doesn't quite do him justice. That is another day and another time, however. In the mean time, we have a mission to prepare for.


	3. Enter Caleb

Caleb stretched his hands out over the keys and took a deep breath. It had been a long time since he was able to sit at a real piano and play for pleasure. His old school had a piano in its chapel and in its lunchroom, so used to be able to play when he wanted. Now he had to go to churches early, or to the library, to play. Nowadays, he rarely got to play or sing. He used to do both in his church, but he didn't want to have to tell them all the truth about himself--or what he'd done. His church was under heavy reconstruction as it was--and it was his fault. His outspread hands turned to clenched fists as a wave of hatred and guilt washed over him.

Discovering he was a mutant was a horrible experience. In the winter of 2003, when he was about to turn seventeen the next year, he was at his local gym, working out. He was punching a bag, and suddenly it exploded under his punch. Sand went everywhere. The other guys in the gym looked in bewilderment at him, not sure what had happened. Caleb wasn't sure what had happened either--he just knew that he'd done it.

Soon broken bags turned into broken bones. Caleb had gone to give his best friend a playful punch in the shoulder, and then he flew across the room and _through_ a wall. His friend was put into the hospital and hadn't spoken to him since the recovery. Every now and then, without warning, some sort of explosive, vibrating force would leave his body, usually from his hands and break anything insight. Caleb noted that when his emotions were stressed and high it would often trigger a _boom_, as Caleb called them. He could voluntarily trigger a _boom_, if he wanted to. If he tried hard he could manipulate the _boom_ to only emerge from his hands.

When he'd dropped out of the private school that he was attending before he found out he was a mutant, he had to get a job so that he'd have money to eat. Living in a squat house with all of the other dropouts wasn't really his idea of a good time. It was free of rent though. He was working for a man who did home improvement projects. Caleb was helping to build a walkout deck from the second story of a house and he'd fallen off of a ladder. The result was explosive. When he hit the ground he emitted a spherical _boom_ that had put a crater the size of a Volkswagen in the ground, splintered some support beams and broke all of the windows in the bottom floor. When the _boom_ occurred, Caleb was vaulted into the air. When he hit the ground for the second time, he landed on the roof of the house. Shingles and wood flew everywhere; two other men on the job were injured. The thing that made Caleb feel so guilty was the fact that he managed to leave the scene with only a few minor scrapes and splinters. The fall hadn't even fazed him. The _booms_ had protected his body from harm.

Caleb was convinced that he'd never be able to function properly in society again. He was a hazard to the health of others. He didn't want to be held responsible for someone's injury or death--especially if there was nothing that he could do to keep his power under wraps. He knew it wouldn't be long before he was discovered and eliminated. Caleb was not a registered mutant. He didn't want to have to tell the government about his _booms_. He was watching television in a diner about a week earlier. There was something on TV about a new government agency being formed to help "control the mutant chaos". It was the MCA, or the Mutant Containment Agency. They would personally investigate every registered mutant and decide if they were too dangerous to exist in society unchecked. If the particular individual was found to have a power too extreme, or a power he or she was unable to control, they would haul mutants away to a concentration camp. Caleb felt so weird, hearing that word again in everyday speech. How in the world was the government going to justify taking away the rights of the people and locking them away just because they were born differently? They said that they would use force if necessary.

Maybe he needed to be locked away in a padded room where his _booms_ couldn't hurt anyone. Maybe they should just execute him and get it over with. Caleb's thoughts fell on the earthquake. Thousands of people had died and it had been because he threw a tantrum. It was on that day that he understood that his failure as a human being was complete. People all over Midwestern Illinois had fallen into chasms in the earth, had their houses collapse around them. His parents' house was leveled. Luckily neither of them had been killed.

Caleb didn't know what to think--he certainly couldn't talk to anyone about it. There was Markas. He didn't really know what he was thinking, writing to Markas. He hadn't even spoken to him in a long while, and he chose him to confide in. What if Markas exposed him? What if he turned him over the MCA and they were on their way to capture and kill him now? Would the world really be such a bad place with Caleb gone? At least nobody would have to die in a horrible, unnatural earthquake.

Caleb decided it was time to stop dwelling on such negative thoughts. He had a little bit of free time and the only thing that made him feel better was to play. He closed his eyes as a song came from his heart and threw his fingers. The twinkle of the high notes was in perfect harmony with the bass hums. He played a very simple chord progression with melodic "icing" as he liked to call it. The only person in the library was the librarian who opened. He would let Caleb come in and play early in the morning.

Caleb played for about a half an hour, playing a different song here and there and finally decided to leave. He returned some books that he'd borrowed but decided against checking out any new ones. He'd lost all motivation to read and learn since the earthquake. There seemed no point to living anymore; how could anyone ever forgive him for something like that? He was a menace to society, whether he liked it or not. Depression couldn't even begin to describe the state of mind that Caleb was in at this present time in his life. He'd contemplated suicide a few times. He always decided against, because of his religious beliefs.

What did it matter if suicide were a sin in the eyes of God? What about all of Caleb's more terrible sins? What about the thousands of deaths he was responsible for? What about all of the theft he'd done to eat and have a place to sleep? What about not turning himself in to the authorities and confessing to what he'd done? Would suicide really be that big of a sin compared to all of the others? Caleb figured they would just get lost in the sea of sins that he was drowning in. What made it worse for him is that he didn't choose to be in the spot he was in. God had made him and predestined him to be how he was.

What kind of God gives someone a power that is only useful for cause destruction? What kind of God chooses someone to be a weapon of his wrath? Caleb had always believed that God was just and all knowing. He was still convinced that God existed and that he knew all things. Caleb no longer believed in God's goodness though. How could a good God give Caleb all he'd given and then take it all away?

_The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord_.

Caleb remembered a famous passage from Job. Whenever was tempted to doubt God he could always turn there. Job had everything, it was taken away without reason and then God restored him. Through the whole process Job remained faithful to God and still worship Him. Caleb found himself incapable of giving God praise in his life right now. He felt he'd been through enough trial and enough hardship; Caleb wanted his restoration. What a selfish desire though, to want restoration from a situation that he'd created.

Caleb only played for a little while and then he decided is was time for him to go. For some reason, he just didn't feel right. He felt like he was in the wrong place--

"Hey! Hey, Caleb!"

at the wrong time.

Caleb didn't want to whirl around and see _anyone_, so he kept on walking.

"Caleb, wait up!" Suddenly someone caught his arm. Caleb stopped but tensed up. He would have to face whomever it was that had recognized him now. He couldn't just keep going. It might draw a scene anyway.

He turned to face a girl that he didn't even recognize. There was no way that he knew her, he never forgot a face.

"Can I help you?" he said. She was a very pretty girl--not beautiful--but pretty. She had a few brown freckles across her nose and cheeks, short curly, brown hair and brown eyes. She was much shorter than Caleb but she looked to be pretty muscular and athletic. She moved very gracefully, like someone who'd been trained in martial arts or gymnastics.

"I just want to talk to you about something?" she replied

"About what?" Caleb shot back.

"I'm here to offer you help," she said.

"I don't want help from you. I don't even know you," at the arrival of this Caleb turned to walk away.

"Caleb, I know someone who can help you. He can give you a decent place to live, feed you, put you through school. You don't have to live like this anymore," this girl obviously knew his situation to be touching on all of the things in life he was lacking.

"Who are you?" Caleb asked, momentarily interested.

"The more important question is who is he?" she replied.

"Who _is_ he?" Caleb didn't want to wait around in the daylight for too much longer.

"His name is Mindflare. He's the new leader of the Brotherhood of the Mutants. He can offer you protection in exchange for your obedience. He wants to help you, he wants to give you a place," she said.

Caleb had heard of the Brotherhood before. They were radical extremists looking to get rid of everyone in the world outside of mutants. They had a severe superiority complex. They were known to be ruthless and even violent. Caleb wasn't even slightly interested in joining a mutant terrorist club.

"No thank you. You tell Mindflare that if he wanted me to join your little club he should have come to me himself. I might have been more inclined," Caleb was satisfied with his comeback, because he was still able to maintain an almost politeness about it.

He was walking his merry way when he heard her voice again.

"This offer is non-negotiable, you are _going_ to take it," she said. Caleb decided to put his mean face on at this. He marched back over to her and put his finger in her face and started to raise his voice.

"I'm not going to _take_ anything. No one tells me what I have to do or not do. You can take Mr. Mindfart's offer and--"

At this point, Caleb's entire world got really, really bright and really, really hot. His arm and side felt like they'd been hit with a wrecking ball. Caleb felt his feet come up off the ground. He was sailing through the air towards the post office across the street from the library. He smashed into the brick building and bounced off of it like a rubber ball. He landed in the grass at the base of the building which was relief compared to the brick he'd just kissed.

Caleb felt alright, except for the...sunburn? His arm was slightly sunburned from where it had been struck. He didn't know who'd done it but he did know that no mutant terrorists wanted to mess with him. He'd put anyone in the hospital with one of his stronger _booms_.

Wiping off the dust Caleb looked intently to his attackers. Both of them were his age or perhaps a little older. The boy shone like an extremely bright lamp, his clothes and features were not recognizable. He was merely a silhouette of light. He felt his feet begin to move towards his attackers. The boy disappeared in flash and then there was pain.

He'd teleported right in front of Caleb and punched him in face. Light boy was getting on Caleb's nerves. He felt another wave of pain, this time in the gut--he'd been kicked. Everywhere this kid touched skin to skin he left a nice little sunburn as a mark. He was quick as lightning, hopped around and teleported a lot. Caleb saw a punch coming just in time to catch _Light Boy_, Caleb had decided to call him for the time being, by the wrist. Caleb could feel his skin start to burn even as he held on for little more than a few seconds. With his free hand Caleb dealt his attacker a horrible clout to the gut. He could hear the guy _oof_ as he doubled over. Caleb was starting to remember what little bit of karate he'd taken and let his instincts kick in. Caleb threw his assailant a one-two punch combo to the head. He bent his knees, pivoted and jumped in the air throwing his body into a 360-degree spin. Caleb kicked with all his might and some because he added a fairly strong _boom_ to accompany the kick.

_Light Boy_ sailed through the air, bounced off of the pavement and up into the air again. After this he smacked into a telephone pole, bounced into a car and lay still. He was no longer a silhouette of light but a normal-looking, everyday teenager.

"Luminos!" the girl suddenly cried out.

Luminos? That must be his name. Caleb marked that name. He figured if he won this little tussle that more would be back to get him. After coming to consciousness, which probably wouldn't be for a while, Mr. Luminos would want to settle a score.

Another boy, younger than Caleb this time stepped from behind a car. He didn't look like he was too happy. Suddenly, long bones began to come out of his skin at his joints. They looked strong and sharp--not something that Caleb wanted to mess with.

Then, Caleb was soaking wet. He had to be being squirt with a fire hose. Nothing was that wet, cold and powerful. He put his hands over his face and tried to consider the source. It had to be that girl; she was doing something with water--_Water Girl_.

In his own defense, Caleb shot out a _boom_ in the general direction of the water. He heard only wreckage and car alarms afterwards. He was being pushed backwards by the force of the blast. Caleb tried to shoot another, more powerful _boom_. This time it was glass and screaming. He had to think of something.

Suddenly his knees were kicked behind him and something sharp ran through the shirt and skin on his shoulder. _Ow_. It had to have been serrated too because of the way it felt. It felt like his skin had been ripped. The pressure of the water increased and Caleb was being rolled over down the sidewalk like tumbleweed. Caleb deliberately rolled backwards and got onto his feet again. The water was still a constant nuisance. Caleb bent his knees and leaned forward. With all of his might he jumped forward putting his strongest _boom_ behind it. He flew through the air at an unruly speed, slowed only by the current of the water blast he was being beamed with. He closed his eyes, tucked his head down and put his fists forward, hoping to make a connection.

He felt a human body under his fists and then the water stopped. The girl had been tagged in the gut and hard. Her face was red and she was heaving for air. She wouldn't be making jet streams of water anytime soon. Caleb got up off of his stomach and turn to find the third attacker, the one with claws.

Unparalleled pain followed. _Claws_ had pushed one of his bone-blades all the way through Caleb's shoulder and ripped it back out. Blood squirted out of the wound about six inches from the wound. Caleb screamed in agony and awaited the next blow that would surely kill him.

_Claws_ stood over him with a devilish grin on his face. He poised his arm to strike and then came the sirens. They'd been in the distance for a while but only now were they getting close. Caleb couldn't be caught. That was unacceptable. _Claws _was momentarily distracted and it was the perfect opportunity. With his good arm Caleb unleashed a hellishly violent blast from nearly point blank distance into _Claws_'s chest. The blast was surely fatal. Caleb could hear bones cracking. Surprisingly, the attacker didn't fly very far at all. He merely cried out and stumbled backwards.

"Bastard!" he managed, spitting blood and stumbling on broken legs. Every bone in his body had to have been broken. He went to one knee and then Caleb heard it--the sound of bones cracking and popping back into place. _Claws_'s broken chest suddenly went back to his strong broad form. It took Caleb a little while to realize what was going on. He was healing himself, at an incredibly fast pace. Soon the kid was up on his feet again, standing on unbroken bones.

"I'm not going to be nice this time," the kid said taking a step forward. Caleb knew he would probably be cut into ribbons any second. There was no more fight left in him. He might as well have just taken his fate. But what was that sound? It sounded like a jet.

"Shit! They're here! What do we do?" _Claws _demanded _Water Girl_.

"Kill him and run! We'll tell Mindflare he got out of hand!" she said.

Caleb could see the jet, it was hovering down and parking itself in the middle of the street. This had been one crazy day, was all that Caleb could think about. There was a man with a weird kind of goggle set on standing with his hand beside his head. Suddenly a laser beam or something shot out of his eyes and hit _Claws_. Claws flew through the air and into a car, which broke under his weight and force.

Then Caleb saw the last person on earth he expected to see, his cousin Markas. Markas was in the jet waving for him to come.

"Come on! Get in the jet! You have to hurry!" Caleb didn't waste time to ask questions, he just obeyed. Caleb felt his feet moving and didn't look back. The man with the goggles released to more of those laser blasts over Caleb's head. Caleb climbed into the jet and listened as the hydraulic lift closed. It was so dark in the black jet that Caleb couldn't see anything coming in from the bright sun. Who was he with? Where were they taking him?

* * *

"DAMN!" Mindflare was upset. He used his telekinesis to throw a vase of flowers into the wall. It shattered into pieces. 

"C'mon mate! Don't get ya skivvies all jumbled up in a bunch! So the bloke got away! You're going to be controllin Cerebro in a few hours anyways," Pyro was laughing. He was laughing at Mindflare. If he wanted to, Mindflare could create a reality in Pyro's mind to think that he was a prepubescent Japanese girl named Asuka if he wanted to. Pyro had no business making fun of Mindflare's failure.

"Shut up! I'm going to take it out of them hard when they get back," Mindflare decided it was best to get ready for the mission to Cerebro. He'd have Aquas, Luminos and Grendel join them on the onslaught to obtain Cerebro.

"No worries, mate. It's what you should expect sending children to do a man's job. I don't like the idea of working with kids, Chad. They're too green. Besides, I know what kind of training that the X-Men undergo--I was one! They're good and they know how to work together as a team," Pyro said.

"Don't call me Chad. I don't want the others to know my name. You shouldn't call me that anyway. No one knows me by that name. As Mindflare I have renown," Mindflare shot back.

"Ugh. Whatever mate! Look are you sure these kids are cut out for the job?" Pyro was getting aggravated.

"They're the best. I made sure that I picked the cream of the mutant crop when I picked these kids. They have the most potential--especially that Exus. She can really tear it up if you know what I mean," Mindflare said.

"Anyway. Let's get this show moving. You'll never get this war off the ground if you don't hurry," Pyro said. He was right, Mindflare decided.

"I have to make a phone call."

* * *

The Columbian drug lord sped through the jungle in his gas-powered jeep, and the man in black pursued him. The Columbian drug lord have never seen anyone move like the man in black. He would swing threw trees, jump, flip an propel himself anywhere he needed to go. He was catching up to the gas-powered jeep and he was on foot! What was even scarier than how fast the man in black moved was how fast and gruesomely he killed. He'd been able to turn his entire posse into mincemeat with in seconds. Bullets were completely futile; it was like he was made of thin air. He was too good to stand and fight. He'd sliced off limbs with an incredible blade--it was some sort of pole arm weapon--a spear or something. That blade must have been ridiculously sharp, traveling through skin, muscle, tendons and bone as if they were made of Jell-o. 

The Columbian drug lord's cousin had tried to run in fear, screaming for his life. The man in black removed some sort of dart or spike from his boot, threw it as if he were not trying at all, and put it in the back of the cousin's head. The Columbian drug lord had just enough time to get in the jeep, start it and go.

Looking in the review mirror was like looking into his own bleak future, the drug lord decided. Behind him was a bouncing mass of black coming closer and closer to the jeep. The pedal was down to the floor and it still was not fast enough.

"AGH!" the drug lord suddenly cried out in pain. A spray of blood flew upon the windshield and on the dash of the jeep. The drug lord reached up to feel his ear and it was not there. His had returned with massive amounts of blood on his fingertips. A silverish object whizzed past the other side of his head, faster than that truck.

The drug lord gave the review mirror one more look and there was no black man. The drug lord turn completely around and saw that there was certainly nothing. Did he lose him?

"Dios mio!" the drug lord cried out suddenly. The jeep was jostled and the sound of bending metal could be heard in a loud thump. On the hood of his car was the man in black, with that long scythe-like weapon. The drug lord slammed on the brakes and brought the jeep to an abrupt stop, expecting to send the man in black flying. Instead, without losing any balance whatsoever, the man stayed standing atop his hood. The drug lord desperately reached for his pistol. As he started to take aim he saw the man swing his weapon in a flash. The Columbian drug lord's arm was completely missing from the middle of the forearm down. Blood spurted in wicked eruptions, like a geyser.

The last thing the drug lord saw was the man in black swing his weapon one more time, this time for the drug lord's face. Then--there was nothing.

* * *

The man in black looked at the bloody mangled mess before him. The top of the drug lord's head was completely missing. The man in black looked himself over. He'd managed to do all of that and avoid splashing any blood on himself--impressive. There was a ring from the man in black's cell phone. He picked it up. 

"Hello? Speaking. How? I understand. No, he's still in good hands. I just want him off the streets. That's none of your business. Not unless you plan to pay me. I don't do meetings. You talk to my secretary for that one. That's fine. Yes. Oh yeah! Mindflare--good luck," the man in black hung up the phone. A diabolical smile curled over the man's lips. He had to make a quick stop in Cuba to collect his pay and then it was back to the states--at last.


	4. Reflections

Markas stared intently at his cousin as the X-jet continued towards New York. Caleb was looking out the window at the ground below. He'd obviously never flown before. Caleb was a little older than Markas and it showed. Caleb kept a neat little goatee on his chin and it made him look about five years older than he was. No one would know he was still a teenager. Markas really admired Caleb because he was strong. Not just physically, and he was, but because he was able to face the troubles that life brought him. He wasn't too prideful to admit that he needed help though.

Cyclops was in the cockpit of the jet. He could have put the jet on autopilot but for some reason he was focused on flying the plane. Maybe he didn't want to talk to Caleb. Maybe he thought badly of him because of the earthquake. Jean was treating Caleb's shoulder. He winced every now and then at the pain. It was an awful wound. It wasn't like Lifestream couldn't take care of it in a flash once they got to the school. Caleb's left hand was blistered and burned. It was from grabbing on to that guy's arm. That guy was like heat and light concentrated. Markas was glad that his power didn't make him change physically. He felt pity for the mutants that were born blue and furry--like Beast. Or people who would all-of-a-sudden change their form and become something else--like that light kid. Telekinesis and telepathy wasn't that bad in respect of other mutant's powers.

Markas thought of Caleb. His power was so destructive. There's no way that he could ever use his power to help someone. He was a human weapon with potential power to do little more than destroy. He'd need a lot of help and counseling to get past the things he'd done. Markas would have to be there for him. For all the time that Caleb was there for Markas, through his parents' divorce, he figured he owed him at least that.

"Are you okay?" Jean asked him.

"Not really," Caleb answered honestly. "I'd like to know who you guys are and where we're going. If you know who attacked me and I why I'd like to have names and reasons. What's going on?"

"One thing at a time. My name is Jean Summers and that is my husband in the cockpit. His name is Scott. You know Markas obviously," she began.

"That girl said she was from the Brotherhood. Is that the same mutant Brotherhood that wants to completely segregate mutants from everyone else?" Caleb asked.

"One and the same. The girl you were talking about is Rory Cadence, better known in the mutant society as Aquas. The boy who gave you these burns is--"

"Luminos. I caught that name. That reminds me, what give? What's with all these name?" Caleb asked.

"They are code names of a sort. A lot of mutants have them. Whenever they join a mutant society they are given a new name. This name is a kind of ceremonial to dying to their old identity and becoming someone else. Usually they have something to do with their gifts," Jean explained.

"Gifts! HA!" Caleb scoffed.

"I think that the Brotherhood was after you because of your gift--because it's so powerful," Jean said.

"Don't call what I have a gift. It's a curse! A plague! Everywhere I go I bring destruction and death with me. I'm a walking bomb. Look, I don't wanna talk! Leave me alone! Everyone leave me alone," Caleb screamed.

Markas could sense Jean's psychic energy move as she calmed his nerves a little bit. Caleb would probably never know that she'd tampered with his temperament Markas wouldn't be one to tell him.

"It's okay, Caleb. We're not here to hurt you. We're here to help. You go in the back and lie down. I'll be in the cockpit and when you're ready to talk, I'll be here," Jean said. Caleb agreed. Markas took his seat back in the lower level of the plane. He figured that Caleb would want some time to hisself.

* * *

Jean Gray looked over the computer screen. She had to add Caleb into the file archive. There were student files kept downstairs in her office but she liked to keep her own personal files on the students with her on her laptop. There were not really like files but more like a diary or a log. All of the students that she was closely associated with she kept an ongoing file of them. She hadn't been keeping up with them as much as she could have but she'd had quite a lot on her mind. She opened the archive.

**FILES 01-03**

**FROM DR. GRAY'S ARCHIVES**

**SUBJECT: STUDENTS**

**FILE 01**

**NAME: Markas Bast**

**X-NAME: Hypno**

**DOB: 11/16/87**

**BLOOD TYPE: B+**

**ALLERGIES/DIABILITIES: none**

**HEIGHT: 5'9**

**WEIGHT: 180 lbs**

**MUTATION: Telekine, Telepath**

**NOTES: Markas is extremely gifted. His power and ability to control his telepathic and telekinetic powers are far superior to that of the average telekine and telepath. I have an accelerated and steady path for him. I will be working and monitoring his progress very closely. He is mild-mannered and sweet.**

Markas was always the first one to come up on the screen. He was her first real project as the leader of the X-Men. She'd been working with him for quite a while. Also, considering that their powers were identical gave Jean another reason to keep close tabs on him. There were more in depth notes on him but she had only that information for the thumbnail of sorts for every student.

She scrolled down and saw Isaac's file. Storm had a protégé of her own.

**FILE 02**

**NAME: Isaac Woerner**

**X-NAME: Vortex**

**DOB: 6/12/88**

**BLOOD TYPE: A+**

**ALLERGIES/DISABILITIES: bronchiolar asthma**

**HEIGHT: 5'10.5**

**WEIGHT: 162 lbs**

**MUTATION: wind and atmospheric pressure manipulation**

**NOTES: His power is very similar to that of Storm's. He can manipulate the wind's severity and direction. Storm tells me that he has a lot of power and control by comparison to herself, when she was at his stage of development. He is obsessed with girls and has a hard time focusing.**

She clicked on the "add file" command. It opened a set of templates for her to fill out. For the time being she would only need to fill out the preliminaries on Caleb. She bumped him up in the file system as number three. She wanted him close to the front so that she would be able to access him with ease. She had learned this tab-keeping business from her mentor, Professor Charles Xavier. He had seriously detailed, book-length reports on nearly every mutant that he'd ever worked with.

**FILE 03**

**NAME: Caleb O'Fallon**

**X-NAME: Shockwave**

**DOB: 02/07/87**

**BLOOD TYPE: B+**

**ALLERGIES/DISABILITIES: none**

**HEIGHT: 6'0**

**WEIGHT: 235 lbs**

**MUTATION: Able to excrete powerful shockwaves from body.**

**NOTES: I have never in all of my year seen witnessed a power quite like this. I cannot fathom the power and intensity of his gift developing anymore. His degree of control is beyond poor. He is also a very troubled young man who needs a lot of help. I'm prescribing him anti-depressant and also twice-weekly sessions with Beast for anger management. His gift is the most destructive force that I have ever seen contained inside of a mutant. He certainly has potential as an offensive X-Men member.  
**  
She looked at the file thumbnail after she'd created it. She had a feeling that she'd be adding quite a lot more on Mr. O'Fallon's file. He certainly was a troubled young man. It was also obvious that he was not always like that. Apparently he'd had quite a happy childhood and early teenage life. His power was something of a marvel--and a danger. He was in good hands now, she thought. He might have a future here with the X-Men--if he could learn to control his emotions and power.

**FILE 04**

**NAME: Serena Jazele**

**X-NAME: Chrona**

**DOB: 12/23/88**

**BLOOD TYPE: B-**

**ALLERGIES/DISABILITES: none**

**HEIGHT: 5'5**

**WEIGHT: 120 lbs**

**MUTATION: Precognition**

**NOTES: Her reflexes are unparalleled of the entire student body, perhaps in the world. Her power can be used to see things more distant in time, but for the most part she has an almost sixth sense of precognition. She is a normal, teenage girl.**

Serena and Jacob, another student were in a close relationship. Serena took relationships very seriously, but Jacob jumped around from one girl in the institute to the other. He also never went with any of the girls who had physical mutations. Jean had tapped into his mind and discovered he was like most cocky boys his age. He didn't think that those girls were good enough for him, even though he didn't know them as people.

Jean stopped herself. It was so easy for her to become judgmental because she could read people's innermost thoughts. Every gift had a flipside to it.

**FILE 05**

**NAME: Jacob Wryly**

**X-NAME: Palisade**

**DOB: 11/18/87**

**BLOOD TYPE: O+**

**ALLERGIES/DISABILITIES: none**

**HEIGHT: 5'10**

**WEIGHT: 150 lbs.**

**MUTATION: Able to create a barrier from an unknown energy to protect him.**

**NOTES: Emits energy in a circumference around him. This visible energy, pink in hue, is nearly in penetrable. It can withstand bullets, explosions, strong winds, electricity, lasers, and even the energy that Cyclops emits from his eyes. As long as someone is close enough to him, he can put him or her inside this energy field. He's a real ladies man. I'll have to watch out for him.**

She scanned over the Brotherhood files that she'd collected briskly. She wasn't really interested in looking at them because she didn't have very much information on them. She wasn't about to try to get anymore then what she could find out with ease. She didn't want to cause any conflict with the Brotherhood. With Mindflare as their leader she didn't see peace as becoming an option.

Mindflare was such an angry man. He had been hurt so deeply throughout his life. First, through his negligent father, the series of abuses that he endured from his community. He had been very open with his mutation and had been badly burned by people that he loved. If he had his way he would sterilize all of the human beings in the world that didn't carry the mutant gene. Jean hoped that he would never develop the murderous ideas that Magneto had but...

**FILES 01-07**

**FROM DR. GRAY'S ARCHIVE**

**SUBJECT: THE BROTHERHOOD OF MUTANTS**

**FILE 01**

**MUTANT ALIAS: Grendel**

**NOTES: He has uncharted healing capabilities that perhaps surpass even Wolverine's. Much in similarity to Wolverine, Grendel has retractable bones at his joints that are razor sharp and equally as strong. I wonder if he's had surgical implants like Wolverine--doubtful. The bones seem to be organic. He is violent and extremely dangerous. He will not hesitate to kill.**

**FILE 02**

**MUTANT ALIAS: Aquas**

**NOTES: She is completely in sync with water. She can create high-pressure jet streams of water and project them from her hands. She can also change the temperature of water to boiling but not to freezing. She can even change her molecular structure, become water and then return to normal. She can become an invisible vapor and vanish from battle if necessary. Her weaknesses are sub-zero temperatures and electricity. She does not seem to be as compulsively violent as her comrades.**

**FILE 03**

**MUTANT ALIAS: Zeus**

**NOTES: He is able to generate high-voltage electricity from his body and emit it offensively. He can also manipulate other sources of electricity around him. He is frightfully powerful and has been known to kill a man with a single bolt of electricity. Extremely cocky and hot-tempered.**

**FILE 04**

**MUTANT ALIAS: Luminos**

**NOTES: His gift reflects his name. He can use the light around him as a weapon, increasing its intensity to powerful rays. He can change his molecular structure to actually become light. This is an inexplicable phenomenon. He can travel at the speed of light by traveling with a ray of light. The ray must be bright and strong enough for him to accomplish this. He moves so fast he appears to be teleporting. He is extremely limber and acrobatic. His high speed makes him a hard target to catch.**

**FILE 05**

**MUTANT ALIAS: Midas**

**NOTES: I would love to study his blood type. It would appear that he is little more than living gold. He can mold himself into all sorts of shapes, including knives and stabbing weapons. He can also change the atomic makeup of an object into gold. He has never been seen trying to turn something living into gold. That would be a dangerous weapon. He is extremely quite and reserved, but fierce in battle.**

**FILE 06**

**MUTANT ALIAS: Exus**

**NOTES: Here's a scary one. Her body is completely integrated with all sorts of organic venoms, poisons, gasses and acids. Her fingernails are poisonous barbs that she can use as projectiles. The poison, at her stage of development will not kill but will temporarily paralyze. She can blow out toxic fumes, hack up sticky black acid. She can create smokescreens almost instantaneously to cover her location. She has obviously been trained in some sort of martial arts and gymnastics. She moves and fights with poise and fury.**

**FILE 07**

**MUTANT ALIAS: Mindflare**

**NOTES: He is rumored to be the new leader of the Brotherhood. It is fact that he is a psychokinetic; able to manipulate the minds of those he's around. It is not hard to fathom that he is merely controlling his underlings to do his bidding. He is dangerous, possibly criminally insane and opposes anyone non-mutant. He is also rumored to have telekinetic powers.**

After a quick glance over the Brotherhood files she moved on to the teachers. There was a bunch of links that would take her to Professor Xavier's detailed files on each mutant plus her own notes that she'd added here and there. She scrolled down and looked at the list. In a little while, she'd have to go back and have a heart-to-heart with Caleb about the school and X-Men and what not.

**LIST OF X-MEN**

**FROM DR. GRAY'S ARCHIVE**

**SUBJECT: X-MEN**

**ON CAMPUS TEACHERS:**

**Jean Gray-Summers PHEONIX**

**Scott Summers CYCLOPS**

**Hank McCoy BEAST**

**Ororo Monroe STORM**

**Marie ROGUE**

**Robert Drake ICEMAN**

**Jubilation Lee JUBILEE**

**Remy LeBeau GAMBIT**

**OFF CAMPUS/ABROAD TEACHERS:**

**Kurt Wagner NIGHTCRAWLER**

**Kitty Pryde SHADOWCAT**

**X-MEN M.I.A.**

**Logan WOLVERINE**

"Logan," she said aloud. Scott didn't know that she still searched for him with Cerebro almost once every night. She refused to believe that he was dead. She could still feel him inside of her. He was out there somewhere. She'd gone over and over the scenarios in her mind. She wondered if he'd lost his memory again and didn't remember anything. She wondered if he was still stuck somewhere in the ice of the Himalayas, eternally frozen in the subconscious.

She shook her head. It wasn't a pleasant thought. It was time to go and talk to Caleb. She could sense already that his mind and temper was cooled a little bit and he was ready to talk. She closed her laptop, unstrapped herself and headed towards the back. She had high hopes for him and would work as hard as she knew how to give this young man hope.


	5. Suiting Up

Caleb had spent more than enough time throwing a fit, he decided. He was giving himself a mental beating as it was. He was going to apologize to Markas and Dr. Summers. He was huddled in the back of the jet, thumbing his wound every now and then. It seemed like he should be in a lot more pain than he was. It didn't feel like it had gone through any bone or joint; it seemed to only be a flesh wound. Markas had mentioned something about a 'life stream' that would heal his wound. What was going on? Why was the Brotherhood after him? How did they know about his mutation? What did the X-Men want with him? How did Markas know the X-Men? Caleb's mind was going in a thousand different directions and speeds. These people, the X-Men seemed to generally want to help him—a rare thing in this world for a mutant. Obviously, they were pretty set and stable—they had a jet.

Careful not to put any weight on his bad arm, he got to his feet and made his way towards the middle of the jet, where the passenger seats were. Markas was sound asleep or doing a good job pretending to be. Dr. Summers was typing something into her laptop. Before Caleb could say anything, Dr. Summers closed her laptop and turned to look at him.

"You're ready to talk," she stated plainly. It was a statement more than a question.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Don't worry, Caleb. I'm here to help you in any way I know how. I'm sure there is a place for you at the Institute."

"The Institute?"

"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

"A prep school—for mutants?"

"Yes, but it is more than that. We do give quality education to all of our students but we give a different kind as well."

"What do you mean?"

"We offer young mutants, whose powers have manifested to control them and use them to the advantage of themselves and others."

"What if I don't want to use my powers? I just want to control them so that I don't kill anyone else?" Caleb had not meant to say 'anyone else'. He could only imagine one's reaction to that. He seemed to always be digging himself in a deeper hole. To his surprise, Dr. Summers seemed unaffected by what he confessed.

"We can teach you to suppress you powers so that they don't activate unless you want them to."

"I don't want them to—at all—ever," Caleb decided that he was going to make that abundantly clear.

"Well, to each his own. Hiding the fact that you are a mutant from everyone else doesn't change what you are. Learning to utilize it beneficially is a better route to take. What not use your gifts to…"

"They are not gifts. My powers just break things and hurt people. I'm lucky the MCA hasn't 'contained' me yet."

"Caleb, I'm not denying the fact that your gift is dangerous and extreme. There must be something done before another catastrophe happens."

"You know about the earthquake?" Caleb was sure that is what she meant by catastrophe. Markas must have told her. That is why they were here. They had known exactly where to find him and all because Markas had them come to his rescue.

"Yes, I know about the earthquake."

"Then why are you helping m? Should you be turning me in?"

"One would think. I believe I can help you, Caleb. I believe that if you are willing, open and receptive then we can help you manage your power—to control it. As you are now, you live in total fear of it. Hoping—praying—that it doesn't go off again."

"How do plan on helping me control it?"

"There are many things we do for people with cases like yours. First, I will do a medical assessment of you. Nothing weird, just an X-ray, CAT scan and some blood analysis. You see, if we can understand your mutation, find out how it works we find out how to control it.

"Also, I am a telepath. With your permission of course, I will read your mind and find out exactly what your mind and body does when you use your power.

"We will also have you do a session or two in the Danger Room."

"What's that?"

"The Danger Room is a room where the X-Men and aspiring X-Men practice using their powers to develop and control them."

"Wow. And my 'booms' won't break up your room—or cause an earthquake?"

"Unlikely. The room is underground and it's constructed to take quite a beating. I'm certain even a power as intense and destructive as yours can be monitored."

"Do all of your students become X-Men?"

"No. The vast majority learn to control their power and go on to live normal lives in society as doctors, lawyers, real estate agents—they are able to function in society normally."

"It sounds too good to be true," Caleb confessed.

"It is true; it's the furthest thing from easy. It will be a lot of hard work and dedication to do it right."

"Considering my situation, it doesn't look like a I have much of a choice to do anything else," Caleb almost just thought it in his head. He figured it didn't matter anyway. She was a telepath; she could see what he was thinking as it was.

"Don't look at it like that. We would never force this on you. We only help people who want to be helped. It's a volunteer thing."

"I need help," Caleb confessed after a short pause.

"You're in good hands," Dr. Summers placed a hand on his good shoulder.

Caleb smiled. Nothing that was happening today was exactly on his agenda. All he could do at this point was trust; he was out of options. He'd no place to turn to that could take him in and help him. It made it easier to say yes knowing that there were mutant terrorist after him as well. Maybe all of this would turn out to be good thing. Maybe God was finally answering his prayers.

"Thank you," Caleb spoke it to aloud to Dr. Summers but he also prayed it to God in his mind.

"Your welcome," she embraced him and he embraced her back. It was the first hug he'd had in a long time, he realized. It felt good; it was exactly what he needed.

* * *

"We're putting it on halt for a while," Mindflare decided. He was addressing the Brotherhood.

"Why?" Zeus asked.

"They have the boy with them now. I want to wait until we get a better report of what he can do."

"He's powerful," Luminos admitted.

"Yeah, he broke almost every bone in my body," Grendel added.

"Remember, he was only able to do what he did five times or so. You told me he wore out after that. He doesn't have an unlimited supply of energy. I don't want to risk attacking the Institute and him flying off the handle. He could damage Cerebro. The whole mission will be for nothing if we do not obtain Cerebro," Mindflare reminded them.

"I'm not waiting around for all of this mate. Call me when you're ready to do it for real. I'll be in town," Pyro turned towards the elevator leading to the surface. Mindflare thought about using a mind prompt to keep him there but decided against. Pyro had a score to settle with one of the X-Men; there was no way he was going to miss out on a chance to wreck some havoc and burn things. Mindflare smiled.

_Soon.

* * *

_

As the jet landed, Jean let Caleb off first. He was in complete amazement that the jet landed through the basketball court into the underground base. It was a pretty typical reaction, especially among teenage guys like him.

Lisa was waiting in the dock just as Jean had asked her. Caleb was really going get excited over what was going to happen next. She smiled.

"Someone hurt?" Lisa asked.

"Yes. Could you work your magic for him?" Jean asked, this time with a bigger smile. She loved to see Lisa's power. It was a gift that anyone would covet.

"Sure, lemme see your arm," she motioned to Caleb. He had ripped the sleeve off of his shirt, exposing the bare skin and the fresh wound. Lisa put her hand very close to the wound and began to use her power. White light began to radiate from her body, onto Caleb's—namely from her hand to his shoulder. Jean watched as the wound began to close and heal at a rate like she'd only seen on one other person. She shook her head of thoughts of him.

"That's amazing!" Caleb looked at his now-healed shoulder. There wasn't even a scar left to prove the wound. Amazing didn't quite do it justice anymore. When Jean had taken Lisa, an orphan, under her wing she put her to use immediately. The ability to heal people's superficial and serious wounds without much exertion was miraculous at best. She could do it for people, animals, plants and herself. When Lisa had taken an interest in becoming a part of the X-Men Jean was thrilled. What an asset in a fight, an endless supply of healing. Jean had put in the training programs as soon as she approached her with something. She had already given her the X-name: Lifestream. She had an endless supply of life running through her veins; Jean thought the name very appropriate.

"Yeah, I guess," Lisa was so shy, especially around boys her age.

"What's your name?" Caleb asked her.

"Lisa."

"That's cool. That's my sister's name. What's your um…your mutant name?" he asked her.

"Lifestream."

"Wow, I like that too. Thank you so much Lifestream," he gave her a hug. It made her blush at first but she liked it. Jean didn't need to read minds to know that much.

"It's not that great really. It's the only thing I can do," Lisa looked to the floor.

"No. It's a great gift. I'd trade you powers any day."

"But I can't defend myself with it," she must have really been taken by Caleb. She had spoken more to him than she had in the past two days to everyone in the mansion.

"Your gift doesn't hurt people. Can you heal other things too, like cancer and what not?"

"No, sorry. Well not yet. I think I might be able to one day as my powers evolve," Lisa beamed hopefully. Jean couldn't help but smile. Lisa was never confident in her powers but she gets around a boy who gives her attention and suddenly she exudes it.

"You've got a great gift. You my not be able to shoot lasers out of your eyes or read people's minds, but you've got something much better," he encouraged her. Jean decided it was time to interrupt. She was all up for letting love bloom between the students but for all she knew, she had a ticking time bomb in the institute. She needed to have him examined.

"Okay, we'd love to stay around and talk about how amazing Lisa is but we have to have Mr. Caleb here examined," Jean broke it up. Caleb turned to look at her. "Follow me, please."

_You think he's dangerous_, Markas telepathed her. She could tell by his tone he was a little defensive. It was because he was his cousin. Oh well.

_He caused an earthquake that killed thousands, Markas. He is dangerous_, she replied.

_Alright, alright. I'm not naïve though_, he responded. She was suddenly taken. She had _thought_ that he was being naïve. She didn't telepath him that part. He was reading her mind. She hadn't even noticed. She suddenly felt a stream of questions enter her mind from Caleb.

"Don't worry, Caleb. You'll have plenty of time to catch up and get settled in as soon as we get your examination done," she smiled slyly. He had no idea what he was in for.

* * *

Caleb was lying shirtless on his back in a full-body X-ray machine. The light was blinding. Though he'd never been in a tanning bed, he figured it was a lot like the X-ray machine. Dr. Summers had already taken blood and performed a CAT scan on him. The blood was in a centrifuge now, Caleb knew. He could no longer hear it over the noise of the X-ray machine.

"Try and relax, Caleb. I know it's bright," Dr. Summers suddenly blurted.

"Okay, sorry," Caleb tried to lie as still as he could.

"All done," after only a minute or so longer.

"Thank God. I don't know how much more of that I could've taken."

"I'm going to stay here and look over your test results. At the end of the hall are our uniforms. Strip down to your under-clothes in one of the rooms and simply hit the button on the panel. Oh be sure to stand in the center of the circle."

"What for?" Caleb asked.

"It will scan your body for a precise fit and make your uniform right there."

"Oh that's…wow," Caleb had never heard of anything like that before.

"After you suit up, go ahead and go to the room down the hall. It's around the corner, first door on the right. Beast will be there to get you started on a Danger Room session."

"Is there any real 'danger' in the Danger Room?" Caleb wondered out loud as he put his shirt back on.

"Realistically no. You're in no chance of real death because Beast will be monitoring you so closely. He'd turn it off if it got too intense for you."

"Wonderful," Caleb shook his head. He stepped towards the round, steel door and it opened automatically for him. Stepping out into the hall and to the immediate right was several leather suits on display. There were doors on either side with signs above them. One read, 'men' and the other 'women.' Taking a right towards the men's side, he stepped into a dressing room. There was a blue circle with an X in the middle of the circle. That seemed to be a recurring motif in the mansion, especially in the underground, Caleb observed. Everything seemed to have an X on it. As he was told, he stripped down to boxers and a beater. He found the button easily enough and pressed it.

"Hello. Please step into the circle," came a voice from nowhere. It was a pleasant recording of a woman's voice—like something you'd hear on an answering machine.

Caleb turned around to see that there was a kind of holographic glow surrounding the circle on the floor. It went all the way to the ceiling, forming a cylinder shape. Caleb walked into the circle and held still in the center.

"Scanning body for fit. Please remain still," the voice cooed.

"No problem," Caleb replied.

_This is so Sci-fi, it's unbelievable_, he thought to himself.

"Body scan complete. Please select design. You may preview your selection by touching the images. Please hit confirm when you are ready to finalize."

On the screen, before him now, was a full-body representation of himself. To the left and right were two menus. One read, "design," and the other read, "color." As soon as he touched one, the holo rep of him was clothed with the costume.

"Cool," Caleb thought aloud. After five minutes of scrolling through the designs Caleb had decided. He chose a design with an X on each shoulder and three across the chess. The back had one big X on it as well. He chose the seams to be stitched with crimson red with gloves and boots to match. Then, he hit the confirm button.

"Thank you. Please wait while your uniform is tailored," the voice requested. Caleb stood still as he heard the roar of machinery from above. It sounded like many sewing machines working simultaneously—probably not far from the truth. There was a small thump from directly above him. He jumped a little.

"Uniform complete. Thank you," the voice announced. The holo junk went away and the ceiling opened up. A costume on an acrylic, featureless mannequin descended to the center of the room. Caleb had to move out of the way to keep it from coming down on him.

"Thanks for the warning," Caleb muttered under his breath. Apparently it was time to suit up. He thought it would be hard to squeeze into the full-body, from-fitting, black leather, but to his surprise, it wasn't hard at all. When he got it all on, it seemed light as air. It breathed like cotton, though it was obviously durable as leather. It felt like a second skin.

"Wow. I could get used to this," Caleb looked in the mirror. His suit was very tough looking. It looked even better on him then it did on the holo rep of him.

It was time for him to head to the Danger Room and put the suit to good use.


	6. Mind Diving

"So he's your cousin?" Serena asked.

"Yeah, his name is Caleb," Markas answered.

"What's he doing here?" Jake's tone was very interrogative.

"He's here to get out of the real world and I here where it's safe," Serena stole the words from Markas's mouth. Actually, she had said it much better than Markas could've had ever hoped to have. That was okay. Some people have more gifts than others. Markas always did feel like an oddball when it came to his mutation. The mark of most telepaths was extreme intelligence. Markas didn't have learning disabilities or anything, but he was no Einstein. People were also expecting such great things from him since Dr. Summers was teaching him. He always felt that he'd disappoint them. There's no way he would ever be as powerful as Dr. Jean Summers. She was the most powerful mutant he'd ever met. Why she was investing so much time in trying to help him was more than flattering.

"Yeah but we usually don't except students in the middle of the semester," Jake pointed out. It wasn't as if Dr. Summers turned people out on the street with no place to go. They were often given a place to stay and food to eat while they were there. In most cases, they just were not integrated into any of the school classes. They were especially not entered into the 'X-Men Academy,' as the students so eloquently put it. There was no real name for what it was. Basically, it was classes to raise you up to be an X-Man. He cared what it was called? Where else would a mutant want to be?

"Dr. Summers has bent the rules before. It should be no surprise that she'd do it this time," Serena had a good point to end the conversation. That was a good thing too. Markas was glad that Caleb was going to be off the streets and getting help, but he also didn't like the idea of him being the center of attention for a few weeks. Then again, every freak got there turn for the spotlight at Mutant High. Markas decided his phlegmatic outlook on life would really help him right now.

They were all standing, in their training uniforms waiting for the others. Granted they were a little early, no one likes to wait. Markas didn't really like Cyclops's classes. He was so gung-ho boyscoutish and combat classes really made that side of him come out. Markas liked Cyclops alright, but there personalities weren't exactly compatible. Cyclops was the take-charge leader type and Markas was the laid-back conversationalist. They'd never really had too many one-on-ones. Oh well, Markas couldn't care less. He looked at his watch. The others were now officially late.

Cyclops must have known it too. He was about a hundred and fifty feet away from them setting up something for class. It was sure to be somewhat dangerous, combat-oriented and intense. Cyclops looked down at his own watch. He knew they were late. Then the wind came.

_Great._

"Okay! I'm here the party can officially start now," Isaac flew in from the sky and landed facing all of them with his hands outstretched as if to say, "look at me." Markas and Isaac weren't exactly chums. Isaac and Markas had nearly every class together, they were the same age and both aspired to be an X-Man one day. With all that in common, you'd think that they would have had more conversations. Even Jake, in all his cocky machismo gave Markas the time of day. Come to think of it, Markas didn't really like Isaac all that well. The reason was that he knew Isaac was probably completely indifferent as far has he was concerned.

"You're late," Markas decided to break the ice, step out on a limb and initiate conversation.

"What? Are you taking attendance?" Isaac smirked. So much for positive conversation.

"No, he's not. But I am. You're one minute late so you owe me one lap around this half of the yard," Cyclops said tracing the area he spoke of with his fingers so as to be clear.

"Okay, fine," Isaac took flight and circled the yard within a matter of ten seconds or so. "Done."

"Not hardly, Vortex. Give me _two_ laps around this half of the yard without the assistance of your powers," Cyclops scolded.

"Whatever," Isaac obviously had some respect issues. Markas laughed inwardly. He figured that Cyclops's military treatment would be the best thing for him. He suddenly felt the thoughts of anxious girls approaching. No doubt the girls were running to try to get to class on time. Markas smiled when he thought of their reaction to finding that they would only have to do more running once they arrived.

Lisa, Courtney and Mereani, better known as Lifestream, Stardust and Druida during field exercises and combat situations. Markas was nonchalant and indifferent about the whole mutant name thing. He liked his name just fine. Jean Summers had named him Hypno, however. This was because he was able to project false scenarios into non-psychic persons, making them believe, think, say and do what he willed. He wasn't as powerful as Jean, but he was developing well. The reason the Hypno was the name chosen for him was because of his ability to make someone mentally incoherent for some time. The effects were similar to that of hypnosis—hence: Hypno was born.

Courtney was called Stardust because of the glowing, cosmic energy she controlled, Mereani called Druida because of her ability to morph into several strange-looking creatures, and the list went on and on. Nearly all of the students, even those not necessarily wanting to be an X-Man had a mutant identity. Markas didn't see the need for it all. They called each other by their first names any other time, unless they were in this class.

"Stardust, Druida you two owe me two laps as well. Do not show up late for my class unless you want to run. Do not use your powers to assist you in your feat," Cyclops ordered.

"What about Lisa? She was late too!" Courtney objected.

"Jean sent me a message saying she was excused. You shouldn't be worried about that though. Please, just run your laps—and refer to your ally by her X-Identity please," Cyclops corrected her sternly. She didn't get too bad of treatment. Cyclops didn't have favorites; he was just as hard on everyone. Favoritism was not one of his weaknesses. For the best, Markas figured. Cyclops had never really come down too hard on him before. Maybe it was because Dr. Summers did enough of that.

_Who cares?_ Markas asked himself. The punctual ones waited patiently another five minutes for the tardy ones, save Lisa, to run their laps. It was over before too long and time to start the class.

Markas got a sudden psyche lapse. Something was going on in the Danger Room. He couldn't tell with his telepathy from where he was but he figured it was Caleb, blowing some smoke, so to speak. Markas wished that he could be there with him. It was more for Caleb than for himself. Markas had done the Danger Room one time thus far and he failed his solo session miserably. It was no easy task. The holographic world in there looked and felt real. If only Caleb knew what he was in for.

"Okay class, as you can see I have set up some equipment for us to train with. This particular one is an obstacle course of sorts. The object is to get your entire team from this side to that side in one piece. You will be timed. I won't tell you what is passing time or failing time; just get there as fast as you can.

"Destroying your obstacles might make it easier to get to your goal but it might be precious time that you cannot spare. You receive no extra points or time for destroying anything so you might want to reconsider. I'm splitting you up into teams," Cyclops said.

"Jake and Serena are on my team!" Isaac spouted of quite dumbly. We all just stared at him. There was no way that Cyclops was going to let any of us pick our teams, let alone Isaac.

"No, actually Hypno, Lifestream and Stardust are on your team. The other team is Palisade, Chrona and Druida. The larger team is going to go first," Cyclops motioned for their team to step up. Markas and the others moved forward. Markas figured this would be a catastrophe. Working with Isaac was always a pain.

"By the way, I'm assigning a team captain. This captain's leadership will be the difference in whether you pass or fail. Hypno, you are this team's captain," Cyclops spoke to Markas. Hell certainly must have frozen over. Then, he assigned him to be in charge of something! He'd lost his mind; it was official. Markas was no leader and Cyclops knew that.

"Sir, I don't think that I should do this," Markas admitted plainly.

"Why?" Cyclops looked at him through his red visor.

"I don't think that I'm…the best man for the job. I'm not really the leader type," Markas offered.

"All the more reason for me to assign this task to you. If you want to be an X-Man you need to be willing to lead. The only way to become a leader is to be a leader," Cyclops must not have played that one out in his head before he said it.

_Wow, is that so, Scottie? _Markas telepathed only the students. His tone was more than sarcastic. He'd have certainly had to run laps if Cyclops heard him. Jake and Isaac laughed out loud.

"You're not funny, Hypno. I know that you sent them a telepathic message, probably making fun of me. I'm serious though. Just because you're not a natural leader now doesn't mean that you can't be," Cyclops was giving him a lecture. He looked him right in the eye and began to speak again. This time, Markas was all ears. "You have no idea how much potential you have, Hypno. Not just with your powers but as a leader, as a man. Obviously, you don't see it. You're hesitant to do anything first, speak to anyone and you're hesitant with your powers. If you hold yourself back for too long, it will become your lifestyle. Don't be held back by insecurity, Hypno. Step out and do it."

Well, Markas felt like he was small enough to hide under a penny now. Cyclops was right, he knew. He was hesitant with _everything_ that he did. Maybe it was time to step up and do something.

_If he's gonna make me do it, I might as well do it_, Markas thought to himself.

"Okay, team. Let's get this done with," he said to his team. Surprisingly, without any talking back, they listened. They stepped over the line with him.

"Combat simulation activated," that stupid voice that was on all of the X-Men's equipment cooed from somewhere, anywhere and nowhere. He hated that stupid voice.

"Alright keep your eyes open, guys. Move forward but stay ready for anything."

Suddenly there was a burst of air from somewhere to the left. In a flash, metal orbs were zooming in their direction. Markas reached out with his telekinesis, disrupting their flight. He forced them to collide into each other. They were flash-bangs.

_Wonderful_, he thought to himself.

They were far enough away to not be of any effect. There was probably more where that came from and they would definitely pose a problem. All of them could do something about them, except for Lifestream. She could bring them back if one hit them though.

_That's nifty_.

Markas didn't need to read Lisa's mind to know that she wasn't content with her powers. She felt she couldn't use them to fight or defend herself so they weren't worth as much as the others. She didn't realize how many lives she could save with her powers. Maybe she didn't see the significance of it. Oh well.

"Keep moving, don't stop unless we have to. Lifestream, Vortex keep your eyes peeled behind us so we don't have any surprises. Stardust, be ready to help me shoot anything that would slow us down," he didn't mean to sound so commanding. Maybe that was how leaders were supposed to be, he figured.

"Look at you, you little leader," Courtney teased with a pearly white grin.

"Yeah, I'm trying real hard," he replied with a laugh, keeping a pretty quick pace trying to get to the other end of the yard. Soon enough there was the familiar sounds of the flash-bangs being launched. Markas couldn't see them where he was.

"Keep moving, shoot them as we go if we have to!" Markas knew that the time limit was going to be completely unreasonable so he figured they would just book it. As if to mock his judgment, three humanoid mechs came out of stealth mode and began to fire static pulse rays. They were completely non-lethal but provided you with an uncomfortable shock. It was like getting a static shock from someone magnified time a hundred—not fun. Markas was the only mutant on the team who could do anything about the rays, as far as he knew.

He was getting ready to create a telekinetic shield to protect them from the attack when Courtney began to glow with a familiar, white light. He hands began to emit 'sparkles' as they'd come to be called. Stardust's power was kind of like Jubilee's, Markas had decided. The 'sparkles' she projected exploded kind of like fireworks. The color was always a glowing, white color. She shot out three 'sparkles' to counter the electric pulse rays. With a flash and a fizzle the pulse rays were no more.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Markas demanded.

"Just now! I figured I'd give it a try," she stammered. She was just as surprised as he was. Being a mutant was never boring, that much was certain. The mechs continued to fire more and more the pulse rays and Stardust continued ahead of the team, countering them. She had enough to worry about with the rays, Markas needed to delegate someone to stop them at their source.

"Vortex! Take care of those mechs!"

"I'm on it," Isaac said suddenly taking flight. He hovered thirty feet over the three mechs and began spiral at an incredible rate. Soon the mechs were caught up in a whirlwind of havoc; parts and pieces were flying everywhere. At there destruction, five more mechs and cannon shooting flash bangs from two different directions were activated.

Markas sensed the flash bangs coming his way just in time. He used his power to redirect them into a nearby tree. He was not, however, in time to keep himself from being hit by a stray pulse ray that Courtney was not able to get. Riveted with pain and electricity, Markas felt his body sailing through the air. The pulses were on a stun level. He was temporarily paralyzed.

_Great_.

Before he knew it, Lisa was at his side, healing him of his paralysis. It was a matter of seconds before he was as good as new. Behind her, he saw more stray pulses heading their way.

"Look out!" he yelled. Instinctively, Lisa hit the ground. It was just in time for him to create a telekinetic barrier to keep them from getting hit.

"Come on! We got to finish this thing soon!" Markas protested. In a faint nod Lisa was hot on his heels to catch up to the others. Isaac was on the ground, paralyzed from being hit. Courtney was frantically trying to keep from getting hit. There were still four mechs firing away at her. The solution was clear.

"Lifestream, get Vortex back on his feet, I'll help Stardust!" she turned to the left to get Isaac up and moving again. Refusing to waste time, Markas ran alongside Courtney and let out one of the strongest telekinetic blasts he'd ever attempted. To his satisfaction, the mechs bottomed out and stopped firing until they could back on their feet.

Markas could see from the corner of his eye that Isaac was getting revived.

"Don't let them get up, blast them!" Markas ordered Courtney. With a grin, she was happy to oblige. She let out double blasts on a single mech. The sparks and smoke was a clear sign that it wouldn't be trouble anymore. As Isaac and Lisa met up with them again they began to run towards the goal. Markas decided that a rush would be the best way to save time.

Vortex used a powerful gust of wind to knock the mechs down again. More mechs and flash bang shooters started to activate.

"Vortex, blow some smoke behind us, if you know what I mean," Markas winked at him. He knew that Isaac's wind manipulation was enough to guard the rear. "Stardust, shoot down anything that comes up before us." Markas decided that he would act as their personal shield. If anything got past the other two he'd stop it. They moved quickly enough that Markas didn't have to do any of that. Before they knew it, they'd crossed the finish line.

"Simulation complete," announced that silly voice.

"We did it!" Lisa exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah we did!" Isaac added.

Markas and Courtney gloated with quiet smiles.

"Good job guys!" Cyclops beamed. Markas figured that he would say something negative. He did the age-old compliment sandwich technique. He began and ended with something good but stuck 'constructive criticism' in the middle. To his surprise, there was none of that—only praise this time.

"You guys came really close to the time limit I had set for you but you did it. Good job. You all did great. Markas, great leadership; I knew you had it in you," he must have suddenly had a 'nice day'. This seemed so uncharacteristic of Cyclops.

"What are you talking about? He got himself blasted. If it weren't for Lifestream bailing him out he'd have never got through," Isaac blurted with obvious jealousy oozing out of his voice.

"As I recall, you were hit by a pulse ray too, Vortex," Cyclops pointed out. There was a silent moment. Isaac had no witty comebacks for that one.

_Yeah, say something now!_ Markas actually telepathed him the message.

"Shut up!" Isaac interjected suddenly. Cyclops thought he was talking to him.

"That's it. Two more laps for disrespect!"

"No! He…" Isaac stammered.

"Now, Vortex. No arguments or it's going to be three!" Cyclops was mad. Markas felt like he should've confessed so that Isaac didn't have to run laps but quickly decided he deserved it.

Out of nowhere the ground began to tremble as if an earthquake were in progress. It didn't take anyone long to deduce what was happening. It was over as quickly as it had began but it was a violent shock.

"Caleb…"

"What was that?" Mereani asked.

"What that your cousin?" Serena sounded as concerned as Markas felt. Would Cyclops and the other X-Men be mad? Would they let Caleb stay?

"What's going on?"

"Where did that come from?"

"Did your cousin do that?"

"Shut up! I'm trying to concentrate so I can find out what happened," Markas began to reach out with his psyche to try to get some idea of what had happened.

"No need. Druida, restart the combat simulation and run your team through. All of you stay here," Cyclops sprinted off towards the mansion, obviously concerned with what had happened.

"Great, everyone else is probably halfway to the basement and we get this kid's table shit!" Jake said the curse under his breath, as if whispering made it less offensive.

"If you guys want, I can take you there," Markas smiled guilefully.

"You can do that?" Mereani asked.

"Yeah, I'm simply going to move our minds into Caleb's without him knowing it. We'll see what he sees and hear what he hears and no one will ever know we're there," Markas gloated.

"Is that safe?" Lisa bit her lip fearfully.

"No, if the connection is severed or something like that you'll just return to your body, it's no big deal. If you're in, as dumb as this sounds, we gotta hold hands."

"What?"

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. Come on, quit being third graders for a second. It's easier if we're physically connected so that we can visit on a single telepathic plane," Markas explained.

"What the hell does that mean?" Isaac jeered.

"Really!" Jake added.

"Never mind, it's a psychic thing. If you're in, form a circle and grab the hand of the person next to you—not hard." One by one they all, however hesitantly did as instructed. Curiosity always seemed to get him in trouble but he enjoyed knowing things way too much.

"Everyone relax and don't fight my psyche ties I'm building."

"English please!" Isaac complained.

"Just don't think of _any_thing."

"Should be easy for you, Isaac. You're not used to thinking about much of anything," Courtney teased.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," Isaac rolled his eyes.

"Hush," Markas whispered. He closed his physical eyes and opened his mind's eye. He began, traveling clock-wise in the circle they'd made to wrap their entire consciousness into his. He created a psychic plane on which they would all gather. This process that Dr. Summers could've done in seconds, would take him about a minute and a half or so. Sooner than late he'd gathered them all in one place. It was time to move. Quick as lightning they began to travel through the mansion, down to the subbasement.

_Whoa,_ Courtney thought.

_No kidding, this is cool!_ Jake piped.

_You can hear what I'm thinking?_

_I guess I can._

_I can hear you too—both of you._

_Yeah, me too._

_You can all hear each other. We are psychically connected to one another right now. That's why it's important to keep your thoughts to a minimum. It can get really loud in here with this many people,_ Markas explained.

Soon they were in the control console of the Danger Room. Markas moved past it, figuring that Caleb would be somewhere inside the room itself. Sure enough, Markas sensed Caleb's thoughts and dove into his mind. He quickly accessed the part of his brain that interpreted vision and hearing. He didn't figure private thoughts or emotions were anything he needed to be diving into without Caleb's permission. Soon they could all see and hear what Caleb was hearing.

_Weird_, Mereani thought. _Can you do this to anyone?_

_Anyone who's mind is not psychic. I can eavesdrop on just about anyone that I want to, _Markas explained.

_That's kind of scary. You could no what we're thinking anytime_, Lisa pointed out.

_Yeah but I'm ethical with it. I usually don't read people's minds unless they ask me to._

_Like now?_ Jake taunted.

_Whatever. Shut up, watch and listen. But most importantly, shut up_.

They were now looking up at the control console, which was damaged. No doubt, it was from Caleb's power. The supposedly impenetrable glass barrier was cracked. Beast was standing behind it in bewilderment.

"I'm sorry," Caleb's voice sounded different. It was because they were hearing what his voice sounding like in his head.

"Don't be sorry, young man. You did everything that you were told to," Beast assured. He opened the door that led to the actual Danger Room and began to approach Caleb. At that moment, Dr. Summers came in to the control console.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I'm sorry. I kinda roughed this place up," Caleb's tone was soft and timid. That was unusual for him. He must have been feeling really bad about the whole thing.

"No, that's okay. Beast has had to fix this place up on several occasions," Dr. Summers admitted.

"Yes, once on her behalf, actually," he added with a smile.

"You said that this place was meant to endure a beating," Caleb pointed out.

"Yes, it is. Only the most powerful mutants have ever done anything like this," Dr. Summers sounded worried. "I'm going to be straightforward. Caleb, I knew that your gift was powerful but I underestimated it's potential."

Caleb must've just given her a blank stare. He didn't say anything in reply.

"Beast, what were his readings?"

"He's a Class-Four mutant at a glance. He doesn't have much control of that cannon he's got however."

"What do you mean, at a glance?" Dr. Summers was getting impatient, or it seemed so.

"At a glance and throughout most of the session, Caleb displayed Class-Four energy readings. Whenever I turned the simulation difficulty to max to see how much he could handle, his power suddenly leapt into the Class-Five category. At the end, when he sent out the wave that did all of this, he peaked the machines and went off the charts," Beast's tone changed.

_He's that powerful?_

_Apparently, just listen and watch._

"Practically limitless," Dr. Summers had barely whispered the word.

"What does all this mean?" Caleb must've gotten tired of them talking about him as if he weren't in the room. "Mutant classes and what not."

"Mutants are put into levels or classes, based on the extremity of their gift. Class-One's are usually mutants with a little extra speed, agility, strength and intelligence or something of the sort. Class-Two mutants are mutants whose gifts are able to affect themselves and others. Class-Three, Four and Five are only levels of how powerful those gifts are. In your case, you seem to be somewhere between the bridge of Four and Five," she explained.

_I never knew about the Classes_.

_Yeah me neither! I wonder what mutant class I am?_

_I know that I'm a Five,_ Jake said dumbly. He sounded serious.

_Yeah right, I'm a Five! You're like a point-two or something,_ Isaac had to throw his in.

_Shut up and just listen guys, we'll miss something,_ Markas should've just went himself. There were two many cooks in the kitchen.

"That's supposed to be a good thing?" Caleb asked.

"Not necessarily. I'm going to be honest with you, Caleb. You don't have enough control of your power yet. You're dangerous. I'm sorry to have to be so frank with you," she apologized.

"It's okay. I know that I'm dangerous—that's why I'm here. Nothing you can say can make me feel any worse about my powers," Caleb looked down to the floor. They all got to see a lovely view of his feet.

"Don't fret, son. You're in the right hands. We can help you to control this ability. With time we can teach you to hone this gift to be a powerful weapon for you to use to your advantage," Beast's feet came into view from Caleb's perspective. Caleb looked up into the face of the gentle giant. Beast reached out and put a hand on Caleb's shoulder.

"I'll help you fix this place if you want me to," Caleb offered. He was trying so hard to make up for his mistakes.

"That won't be necessary. I have a few friends who can move things with their mind. It'll be easy cleanup," Beast smiled. It was always weird to see a giant blue creature be so mild-mannered and friendly. Markas had had Beast as a Danger Room instructor once. He was not to be taken lightly. He was as ferocious and deadly as he was intelligent and suave.

"Caleb, we have a rule here that says that you can't enter into the X-Men program or the school class until next semester. I have to stick by those rules, but I can work something for you. After the school year is over and we have a lot more time on our hands, we'll get you tutored and get you your diploma. In the meantime you're going to have twice a week sessions with Beast. He's going to help you tame this gift of yours," Jean said.

"Thank you. I can't believe all of this. It's been one crazy day. First I'm playing piano in the library, then, I'm attacked by the Brotherhood, rescued by the X-Men. This whole day has been pretty, 'oh dear,'" Caleb said, using one of his favorite colloquialisms. It's context was clear; Dr. Summers and Beast laughed. "One question, though. You were going to read my mind, you said. Did you change your mind or…" Caleb trailed off.

"Oh yes. I can do that now."

_Crap! We have to leave! _Markas thought in a panic.

_Why, what's wrong?_ Courtney asked.

_Dr. Summers is going to find us in his mind! Everyone hold on,_ Markas tried to leave the plane but it was too late.

_Going somewhere, Markas? What have I told you about abusing your gifts! You can't just go into people's minds because you're curious and nosy!_ Markas had never heard her this upset. He was in for it. Suddenly his mind was on fire. He was back in his own body, writhing in mental pain as was the others. She had booted them out of Caleb's mind. The pain was over as quick as it had started.

"What the heck was that?" Isaac rubbed his skull.

"She's not happy."

"Clearly, she's pissed," Jake interjected.

"Yeah, I'm in for it. I'm sorry guys I shouldn't have done that. We might all get in trouble for that. I'll see if I can't take the punishment upon myself," Markas said. Cyclops must've still been on his way down to the Danger Room. He never showed up when they were in Caleb's mind and he wasn't outside.

"Let's just go on with the battle simulation so that we don't get into more trouble than we already are," Mereani suggested. And the rest of the day went on as if nothing had happened.


	7. A Summon to Battle

Rogue woke up to the _click-click_ of the keyboard. Bobby was up late on the Internet again. She looked over; his bed was empty. They had never risked sleeping in the same bed. Rogue had never understood why she had to have such an isolating power. She'd rather not be a mutant at all. But then she would've never met Bobby. Despite her inability to give him any kind of closeness or intimacy like they both desired, he'd never left her side. He'd stayed with her for so many years. She rolled over to see Bobby bathed in the white-blue glow of the computer monitor. She could only see the top of his head sticking up past the back of the chair.

"Bobby, what's the matter?" she asked. She had almost said, "Bobby, come back to bed." That would have been the cliché welcome that brought the troubled man back in the movies—where everything was perfect. Rogue sighed. She knew that deep down inside she must have been a disappointment to him. He didn't answer her.

"Bobby, what's wrong?" she asked again.

"Nothing," he replied sharply. She knew what he was doing. It was the same thing every time she woke up in the middle of the night and found him at the computer.

"It's _him_ again, isn't it?" the question might as well have been rhetorical.

"Yeah. I think he's in the States again."

"Oh," Rogue didn't know what to do or say. He was so worried about John Allerdyce that his life otherwise was lacking.

"You can go back to bed if you'd like," he offered. Rogue knew that he didn't mean it in a commanding way but she still didn't appreciate it. Sometimes, he'd be so open with her, and other times he'd withdraw into a shell. It was his inconsistency that Rogue didn't like. It was as if sometimes he had the patience for her, and sometimes he didn't.

"That's okay. I want to stay up with you,"

"You have to teach classes in the morning."

"So do you, Bobby."

"Look, Rogue I need to do this," his tone had changed a little bit.

"Why Bobby? Why? You're so concerned with him coming after you. I don't know why you're so scared."

"I'm not scared!" he was yelling now.

"What is then?"

"It's…complicated," he withdrew again. Rogue wasn't going to budge.

"That's it? That's the best you can do Bobby? You're gonna hafta do better than that. What's your deal?"

"Rogue I know that he's gonna come after me. I just want to be ready!"

"When he shows up you'll beat him—again. You've never lost a fight with him, Bobby. What's your problem now?"

"He's gotten a lot stronger, Rogue."

"So have you."

"You just don't understand. Don't worry about it—go back to bed. I'll go to sleep in a few minutes."

"Damn it, Bobby! I'd understand if you'd just tell me!"

"I'd tell you if you didn't pry so much!" he snapped.

"Oh is that what it is? I'm prying now?"

"No, that's not what I meant."

"That's what you said!"

"Rogue—damn it! You're so pushy! Can't I just do this—by myself! Is it a rule that I have to tell you every time something's not going so well?"

"You're so consumed with him that you hardly have time for me!"

"That's bullshit and you no it. I only look for him at night when you're asleep."

"When you're supposed to be in bed with me," she shot back.

"Yeah right. We both know that won't happen anytime soon," he spat out. Rogue could not believe her ears. He'd never once used her mutation against her in an argument. She felt an overwhelming emotion come over her. She was right; she was just a waste of time and disappointment to him. She tried to fight back tears but they'd already started to come down.

"Baby, I'm sorry. Baby, please don't cry I didn't mean it," he was trying so hard to make up for it.

"You did mean it. You don't have to pretend anymore. If I can't give you what you want then leave!"

"I'm sorry I…"

"No you're sorry that you can't take it back! You're sorry that I heard what you really think! Just get out!"

"I don't want to leave; I want to stay with you." He was on his feet now, reaching out for her. He stopped because he knew what would happen if he really touched her. "It's been hard, Rogue—I'm not gonna lie. But I've stuck by you this long, why would I leave now? I love you so much I can't stand it. I wish that I could hold you, kiss you, love you—but I can't. I love _you_ for who you are. If I haven't proved that to you by now, nothing will," she could tell he was holding back tears. She fell to her knees and sobbed aloud, with her face to the floor. He joined her on the floor and carefully put his hand on her shoulders where her nightgown was.

"I'm sorry. I know I've been a little distant lately. I am scared about John. He's getting stronger all the time, the paper prove that. I've peaked; no matter how hard I try I can't do anything else. I'm afraid that when he comes back he might beat me. You know him; he won't just hurt me—he'll come for you too."

"I'm sorry, Bobby," was all that she could muster between the sobs.

"It's okay. Don't ever think that I don't love you, Rogue. I've been with you now for nine years and you're stuck with me; I'm not going anywhere." She looked up into his angelic blue eyes and saw sincerity. She wished that she could wrap her arms around him, hug him and kiss him. She felt like such a failure as a lover. She couldn't show him the smallest affection without hurting him.

"I love you too," she said. They knelt there in the dark for a while.

_Something has to change…for him_, she thought to herself.

* * *

The days had turned into weeks in the Xavier institute. Since Caleb's arrival everything had toned down and become very peaceful. The school year was over and the kids got an eight-week break from everything, even for those training to be X-Men. Beast was making notes and listening to the recording of he and Caleb's most recent session. Beast didn't think that Caleb had the anger problem he was fabled to have. He had a lot of hurt and guilt bottled up inside of him but once he was able to open up and trust. Caleb showed tremendous improvement.

Beast didn't know what to think of the boy, when he'd arrived. He figured he'd be your typical hothead—ready to fly off the handle at every opportunity. Even though Beast was supposed to be giving him anger management therapy, and maintain a doctor-patient kind of relationship, he'd taken quite a liking to him. The boy always said hi to him every time he saw him in the halls. The greetings turned into small conversations, the conversations turned into hours of time spent after school hours. It turned out that Caleb was very interested in music and literature. He also was fluent in Spanish as well as English. Beast had always had a predisposition towards those who were cultured and educated.

"Will you tutor me, Hank?" he'd suddenly asked him one day. Beast loved that Caleb called him by his first name. Most of the X-Men, save Storm, still called him Beast, even when they weren't training or on a mission. He realized that only those closest to him called him Hank.

"Tutor you? My dear boy, tutor you in what?"

"I don't know. Teach me something about what you do here."

"Well I'm somewhat of the technician around here. I fix the things that you break," Hank joked, referring to the Danger Room.

"What do you do for fun?"

"What I do here for the X-Men is fun."

"Yeah, whatever. What do you like to do besides work, read and study? You go on plenty of dates with Storm," Caleb said with a smirk.

"Ah yes, spending evenings with someone special is something that I enjoy. And who could ask for better company than Ororo?"

"Yeah, dude. She's bangin," Hank's eyebrows went up when he said that.

"Bangin? I'm going to assume that means she's good-looking," Hank turned his head.

"Yeah, bangin, slammin, hot," Caleb offered other adjectives to describe her.

"I suggest that you change your vocabulary when you refer to an attractive woman, Caleb. 'Hot' is an adjective used to describe the temperature of something, say a piece of meat. When you call a woman hot, you are giving her a message on a subconscious level that says, 'you're and object of lust to me.'" The boy began to laugh at Beast. He did that often. Beast knew that he didn't mean it maliciously. He obviously wasn't used to being around gentlemen.

"You laugh but you'll see that beautiful, stunning and radiant go a lot further than, bangin, slammin and hot," Beast scoffed. They both got a laugh from this one. Caleb was a much younger man than Beast, but he'd found a friend in him. They had dinner together about once a week. What had started out as a mentorship project had turned into a pleasant friendship.

Caleb clearly adored him. The session before last they'd had, Caleb had broken down and cried, admitting all kinds of feeling of guilt and hatred of himself. Beast embraced and held the boy as he cried. He told him everything was going to be okay.

"Thank you so much, Hank. I don't know what I'd do without you," the boy had whispered to him. Beast looked at the boy as a much younger brother now. It wouldn't be long before his therapy sessions were over and he would no longer need to see him. That wouldn't stop them from being friends, Beast knew.

Beast was watching as the students played football out in the yard. It wasn't too rough of a game because the girls were all mixed and matched in the team. It was good for them to take a break from the routine of the Xavier Institute. He thought back on the battles that the X-Men had had. He thought about those who had gone to another place in the world, and those who had stayed to further the cause of the institute. He looked down at the students, Caleb, Markas, Serena, Courtney and the others. It was so hard to see them as the next generation of X-Men.

"Thinking on younger days, Hank?" a familiar voice said from behind him. Before he could turn he felt Ororo's arms reach between his arms and around his chest. She rubbed him lovingly before he turned to embrace her.

"Funny you should ask me that, dear because I actually _was_ thinking back on our younger days," he smiled. He looked her over. Her height, brilliant blue eyes, perfect chocolate skin and dazzling white hair was enough to do any man's heart in.

_It was beauty that tamed the beast._

"Really? Any memories in particular?" she asked as she slid under his arm. Her slender frame was even more so under his massive arm.

"No. My main track of thinking was simply that I was observing the future of what we are now," he pointed out the window to the children.

"Yes. They are the future X-Men, some of them anyway. You worried they won't quite measure up to the originals?" she looked at him sideways.

"No I know they will surpass us, my dear. After all, look at what wonderful instruction they are receiving," Beast gloated.

"I suppose. None of us are Charles Xavier," she pointed out.

"True. We can only mimic what he wanted for this place…for this world, rather. Anyway, let's change the subject. We could reminisce on our glory days all day."

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"Actually, I was thinking that I might take you to the kitchen and make you some dinner."

"Oh yeah? And what if I'm not hungry?" she teased.

"I'll just have to force feed you," he came back. They laughed. People always told them that they had the perfect relationship—that they were so ideal looking and perfect when everyone was around. What Beast took the most pride in was that they really did have the perfect relationship. They'd been together for two years and some and had yet to have an argument. He refused to believe that they were in some sort of 'honeymoon stage' of sorts. He believed that he and Ororo could really be perfect soul mates for each other.

"Actually, I'm starving. I just came up to ask you if you wanted some dinner," she confessed.

"I could eat. I've got an evening planned for us in the east wing study. It's just the two of us—totally alone."

"Are you getting ideas?"

"Of course I am. I've schemed this whole night to play out so that you will end up asleep in my arms."

"You're wicked," she poked him in the soft spot of his belly. He grunted a little and picked her up over his head and twirled her around. She screamed playfully.

"Hank put me down! Hank! Hank I'm serious!" she was laughing the entire time. He threw he up into the air as if she were weightless he caught her again by her waist and set her on the floor in front of him. She ran her hands up his arms, over his shoulders and around his neck. She leaned in for a kiss. He was happy to oblige.

"I love you," she looked into his eyes.

"I love you too. Now, are you ready for some dinner?"

"I thought you'd never ask." He put his arm around her and they began their trek to the kitchen. Beast began to be thankful for all of the simple things in life that he was able to enjoy. Even being a mutant covered head to toe with blue fur, he was able to enjoy everything that normal people had: money, a house, a wonderful girlfriend and soon-to-be fiancé if everything went according to plan. A smile crept on his face. It was actually Caleb who had talked him into proposing to Ororo. Funny story…Beast decided to keep his mind on the task at hand.

* * *

A woman, hidden in the shadows watched as the beast and the weather witch walked away in their blissful existence. She stuck her head out from behind the curtain, keeping stealthy, profile low. She'd come in through a chimney and into a fireplace on the first floor of the mansion.

A two-way receiver gave sound in her earpiece. It was the voice of her comrade.

"Are you in position?"

"Yes. I'll radio you as soon as I find the security feed," she whispered into the small mic protruding from the earpiece.

"Excellent, I'll go ahead and begin the diversion," said the voice to her. She stepped out of the curtains and headed towards the elevator that would take her into the subbasement. She had to find the security room so that operation could commence. As she stepped out, a young girl of about seventeen stepped into the room and looked at her with surprise.

"Who are you? Are you supposed to be here?" the girl sounded demanding in her tone. Without hesitation, the woman let loose three poisonous barbs from her fingers, all of which hit the girl in the neck. She didn't even have time to react. She was completely paralyzed in an instant. The woman from the shadows came closer to the girl.

"Help somebody…" at she girl gasped for air and her excited little heart began to beat, the woman from the shadows breathed out toxic fumes that knocked the girl out almost instantly. Now she was both asleep and paralyzed. The woman drug the girls body behind the curtains from which she came. She had no time to delay. She must complete her mission as soon as possible. The diversion was already in play and she was behind schedule. Hopefully she'd run into no one else until the time was right. She'd have time to have some fun.

She finished her journey to the elevator and descended into the secret subbasement.

_Soon.

* * *

_

Scott was busy doing crunches on the floor. Jean was at her computer imputing the last of the students' grades and achievements. He'd be glad when all of that was done. She'd put off so much of it for so long and it had piled up too high. The only sounds in the room was the rhythmic _whoosh_ of his exhaling on the way up for his crunches and the _click-click_ of the keyboard under Jean's fingers. When Charles Xavier had passed away and he'd left the Xavier Protocols in Jean's hands she'd began to devote her life to the new hobby of continuing Xavier's legacy. Scott didn't mind so much about that, or how much one-on-one attention she gave her star pupil, Markas. It was the sheer mass of the whole thing collectively. It wasn't as if Jean was neglecting him. It was _her_ time that he was worried for. She used to read, do yoga, she went through the telekinetic crocheting for a while. She hadn't designed any scrapbooks of the students in years now. That used to be a hobby she was devoted to. Now it was all, blood analysis this, psyche evaluation that, find him, contact her. She needed a break, he decided. He stopped doing crunches and bounced to his feet.

"Jean, I wanna go into town for some frozen custard," he announced. There was a small soda shop in town that had the most amazing deserts. He knew Jean loved the frozen custard.

"Okay, bring me back some," she didn't turn around, but she was obviously intrigued by the idea of frozen custard.

"I want you to go with me," he pleaded.

"Scott, I'm busy with this," she pointed out. She was turning around now.

"You've been 'busy with this' for hours, babe," he approached her and took her hand. He pulled her to her feet and close to him. "C'mon, go with me. You need a break, I want to get out of the house, and we both want frozen custard."

"Okay, okay. You're right. Can we take the motorcycle?" she knew that question was rhetorical. On a night like this, they wouldn't be caught dead riding anything else as long as Scott had something to do with it. They had made their way to the garage when suddenly Jean stopped. She gasped aloud and Scott knew something was wrong.

"What? Jean what is it?"

"It's…it's in the city. People are screaming and…it's him…it's Pyro," she looked at Scott with a look of dread.

_Great…_

"He's not alone…he's with the Brotherhood, and the Morlocks are there…they're fighting…we have to go, now!" she said. He nodded. As much as he would prefer a peaceful night of motorcycle riding and frozen custard with his wife, it seemed that duty called once again.

_X-Men meet in the War Room. It seems the Brotherhood and the Morlocks are having a duel in the streets. We have to stop them._ She sent a telepathic message to all of them. Scott took her hand and their fingers interlocked as they began towards the elevator in the subbasement.

* * *

Rogue pulled on her gloves and headed towards the War Room. She was all suited up and ready to go. Just when her day was starting to look good, she gets a message saying that the Brotherhood and the Morlocks are fighting.

_Great! Let'em kill each other for all I care. Less work for us to do!_

Rogue knew that innocents were at stake and that they had to do something. She also knew that she had to vent somehow or another. She had to admit she'd been itching for a good fight. The automatic door opened as she approached. She joined the circle of the other X-Men. She noted that they were all present, save Remy.

_Where the hell is that little jerk-off? And I get in trouble for being late to meetings!_

"The situation is this: some members of the Brotherhood and the Morlocks are having an all-out war on the streets of New York. We need to go in and break it up, send them home crying.

"The mission: We load up on the X-Jet, head straight for New York and do what we do best. Are we ready X-Men?" Scott gave his usual opening pep talk.

"Remy's not here," Rogue pointed out.

"Where is Gambit?" Scott asked with just enough emphasis on the word Gambit.

"I haven't seen him all day," Jubilee piped.

"Me neither."

"That's fine, we go without him. We can't delay too long, there are innocents getting hurt because of this recklessness," Scott tightened his fists.

"Why don't we just let the MCA handle them?" Rogue offered.

"I wouldn't wish that on any mutant, not even the Brotherhood," Scott's expression and tone turned grim. He was right. The MCA were completely inhumane.

"Let's load up!" Scott motioned for everyone to head to the X-Jet.

"I'm staying." Jean stopped abruptly in her tracks.

"What? Why?" Scott asked.

"Someone needs to stay here with the mansion and the children. Something's not right there. I don't sense that Mindflare is anywhere near all the fighting."

There was no time to argue. Rogue was seriously hoping that Scott would not get all protective of her all of a sudden.

"Fine. Jean stays. The rest of us, saddle up!" Scott motioned a second time for the team to load up. As Rogue ascended the stairs, took her seat and buckled up she realized, that over the years, she'd lost count as to how many times she'd gone out like this. There were countless times they'd gone on such dangerous, against-all-odds missions. This was just a routine clean up compared to some of the things they'd endured.

_Like the Phoenix…and Apocalypse._

Those were only a few missions they'd had to endure. For some reason, Rogue felt so uneasy about this one. She felt so scared. Fear was something she'd learned to tuck in the back of her mind, but it was resurfacing now. What if something did happen to her or Bobby—or any of the others for that matter? She'd even be a little bent out of shape if Remy got hurt.

_Stupid slacker…where the hell is he?_

Bringing her thoughts back to the pain of loss she clutched Bobby's hands through her gloves. She gave him a look that told him she was worried. He smiled and rested his other hand on top of hers, as if to reassure her that everything was okay. Somehow she knew…everything was far from okay.


	8. First Blood

The sight below them was a catastrophe. Sure enough, the Brotherhood and the Morlocks were fighting in the streets. Fire hydrants were broken and erupting water twenty feet into the sky. Cars were overturned with the windows broken; buildings were completely shattered on one side or another.

_Chaos. What the hell are they thinking? Surely they know we'll show up being so close to where they are…_

Cyclops had already seen too much. It was time to deploy.

"Okay! Storm, take us close to that building and drop us. Park it someplace high and away from here," he knew she knew the procedure but he verbalized it anyway. She pulled them close to the building and hovered there for a while. The X-Men were already beginning to unbuckle their seatbelts and head for the ramp, which was opening as they spoke. Instead of the stairs being deployed, only the ramp dropped, creating a kind of slide for them. Cyclops sprinted and jumped down the chute knowing his team was right behind him.

It wasn't a far fall at all, Cyclops used to practice jumping from one floor to the other in the mansion from the stairs. Upon landing he saw two Morlock peons running towards him, as if he were expected—an unwelcome. Wasting no time, Cyclops let out an optic blast that connected with the opponent's chest. It sent him flying off of the building and down into the street. From behind him familiar fireworks worked the other one over. While she tried to keep her face protected from Jubilee's onslaught, a blue flash slid by on a sheet of ice and kicked the opponent to the ground. Iceman landed easily on the building and turned to face Cyclops for command. He led the team, minus Storm who was in the jet, minus Jean who was at the mansion, and minus Gambit who was M.I.A. They peered over the edge of the building to see the fight. Cyclops recognized Midas, Aquas and Grendel: three of the Brotherhood's prime members. Leading the Morlocks was Spike, former X-Man and Storm's nephew. There were easily twice as many Morlocks as there were members from the Brotherhood. Either way, both were in for a rude awakening.

"Iceman, make us a way down this building. X-Men, fan out and get them off of the streets. Use extreme force if necessary!" Cyclops ordered. Iceman had started freezing a steady slope for them to slide safely to the ground. As soon as it was close to the ground, Cyclops hopped the building and began his descent to the streets below. The others were right behind him. A bony spike missed his head by mere inches. Two more aimed for his midsection missed but were even closer than the last one. He saw Spike, shooting his bony projectiles at Cyclops, trying to pin him up against the ice, no doubt.

Cyclops let out an optic blast in his direction but hit the crate that he happened to be hiding behind. It sent splinters in all directions breaking up the little hiding place Spike and his posse was hiding behind. Bewildered, Spike was clearly losing his focus; he began shooting off his bony spines as quickly as he could muster. Cyclops used his burst shot to shatter all of the ones that would have even come near him. Another optic blast knocked Spike off of his feet and into the wall behind him.

"X-Men, fan out!"

The Morlock closest to him swung a fist at Cyclops. He blocked the punch and the kick to follow. In a counter, Cyclops vaulted his body forward and upward, connecting his knee, perfectly with the attacker's solar plexus. He continued with a fist to his forehead and an uppercut to finish him off.

In the corner of his eye, Cyclops saw another attacker. This one he turned to discover was Midas. His arm was formed into a razor sharp blade. He swung at Cyclops neck. He was able to duck in the nick of time. The battle began to play out. Midas was lighting quick so Cyclops had to wait for right moment to unleash an optic blast.

_Dodge. Duck. Strafe. Jump. Jump again. Punch! Keep punching! DUCK! Block. Block. Flip-kick. Missed! Damn it! Jump back. Stay ready._

Cyclops was having a hard time keeping him at bay. The battle wasn't going in Cyclops's favor very quickly. He hoped he'd have time to reach for his visor and get it over with. Midas was on him again, quick like golden lightning. Cyclops was holding his ground but he was only keeping himself from being hit. Every now and then he'd sneak a punch it and he could feel the malleable metal dent under the force of his blow. Midas's face would be crooked for a second or two and then it would mold back into shape and he'd keep coming.

Finally, the moment came for Cyclops to let out an optic blast, and that he did. The blast punched a hole straight through Midas but he didn't fly away. Standing there with a golden grin on his face he stretched his hand towards Cyclops and let out a golden beam towards his face. Before he knew it, Scott was blinded. He stumbled backwards. It didn't take him long to realize that Midas had turned his visor into gold. He had a spare with him, but when he tried to take it off he couldn't. The visor was fused to his face.

_What the hell?_

Part of the skin on his face had been turned into gold. If he pulled the visor off, he'd have to pull the skin off of his face as well.

"That was much easier than I thought it'd be," said a voice that Cyclops could no longer see. "I'm going to take great pleasure in being able to say I defeated the mighty leader of the X-Men."

Backing away Cyclops tripped blindly over a curb. He knew that it wouldn't be long before he felt a golden blade slide through his suit and into his body.

_Damn it! Someone help!

* * *

_

Storm flew in from above and saw that Cyclops was in trouble. His visor was gold now, from what she could see. It was obvious what had happened. Without delay Storm began to turn the weather in favor of sever lightning storms. A bolt hit the golden assailant's bladed arm. That arm suddenly fell on the ground and he had a molten nub to show for it. He turned and faced her. She flew in sending down more bolts at him. She had to be careful not to hit Cyclops as lightning wasn't the easiest thing to aim.

Another bolt hit him on the side of the head, and another in the torso. The superheated blasts were going to melt him into a puddle if he didn't back down. Suddenly, the golden assailant liquefied, his missing pieces doing the same and collecting into a pool on the ground. He slid like quicksilver-gold into a storm drain and away from Storm. She turned to help her friend.

"Cyclops, are you okay?"

"He turned my visor into gold, along with part of my face. I can't pull this thing off without ripping my skin off!" he traced his hand in an oval shape around his face. Storm looked and saw that parts of his skin had indeed been turned into gold. It was in places spread out on his forehead, nose and some of his hair was gold.

She'd have to stay with him, until they could get back to the X-Jet. He couldn't see anything and his visor was welded to his face. She turned as some of the Morlocks advanced on her. Without hesitation she summoned a powerful wind to drive them away. Her body flared with bolts of lightning and struck those able to withstand the wind. No one was getting past her today.

* * *

Jubilee sent out countless flashes to the retreating Morlocks. They were heading back down into the sewers. They weren't going to get away without getting burned a little, she decided. She watched as they returned from whence they came, one by one. Then there was pain.

She scraped her elbows and shoulder across the pavement as she was moved along by a jet stream of water. Knocked on her back she was not able to get to her feet but was pushed along the street as if by the stream from a fire hose.

_Aquas!_

There was only mutant Jubilee knew of that was capable of creating such a powerful spray of water. Jubilee rolled backwards with the current of the spray and then rolled to the side to avoid the attack. She took careful aim at her attacker and countered with a spray of sparks, but she quickly changed the direction of her stream. Jubilee's sparks were consumed and fizzled by the water. She was once again being forced backward by the water, which was deathly cold now. It felt as if icy needles were pierce everywhere on her body.

Jubilee did her backwards-sideways roll to try again. She didn't aim as carefully this time but released some of the most potent sparks she could. Once again, Aquas was able to fizzle the sparks before they made contact. Jubilee positioned her body behind a light post. Aquas refocused her stream at Jubilee. The sound of the water hitting the post was deafening.

She wasn't being hit with the full force of the blast but the pressure was becoming more intense. Jubilee could tell because of the increasing noise and the spray in the air that made it like breathing in pure moisture. Coughing, eyes red and muscles sore, she knew she had to think of something and fast.

* * *

Beast leapt towards pay phone. He landed easily on top of it, using it as a pivot point to jump back into the fray from which he'd come. There were seven of them, he could count, fighting him at once.

_Seven of them against me…it just doesn't seem fair,_ he snickered inwardly. Jumping with all of his might he vaulted towards his opponents. His body was in a full circle spiral. He felt at least three of them being crushed under his wait. In a flash of fury, Beast used his massive arms to knock to more away from him. They sailed in the air like rag dolls.

It was all happening so fast! There were more coming to his left and right. He reached down and grabbed one who was at his feet by the ankle. With both hands he began to swing his body around like a gigantic ball-and-chain mace. His enemies were clearly not expecting such a maneuver as the group on the left walked right into the attack. They flew in three different directions. Beast continued swinging the poor fellow into the group on the right. He was only able to hit one of them this time. He watched as the woman's body smashed against a building wall with a dull thud.

The remaining Morlocks turned and ran in terror. With a devilish grin Beast swung the man in his hand around three times as quickly as he could muster and let him go to fly in the direction of the retreating Morlocks. They were quickly knocked to the ground.

_Strike!_ Beast thought of bowling.

He turned to notice the other two he'd left on the ground where running. In a flash, he was on the move to catch them. It didn't take him long to catch the first, jumping on the back and forcing him to face-plant the pavement. The second was even easier. Beast grabbed him by the belt and the shirt collar, swung him full circle and through in towards a parked car. The man went in the driver's side window, through the car, out the passenger side window and finally smacked into the pay phone Beast had jumped off of earlier. Just as he was getting ready to enjoy his victory…

"You ready for a real fight, fur ball?" said a teenage voice from behind him. He eyed the kid down. He was about fifteen or sixteen years old, short, and stocky. His hair was unkempt, brown and greasy. His yellow teeth were bared to reveal that he had filed them to be sharp like fangs. He stood poised and motioned as if he were ready for a fight.

If they were in a cage fight, Beast knew that looking in from the outside it would seem as if Beast would tear the boy apart. Beast knew that he wouldn't be in Mindflare's Brotherhood if he weren't extremely deadly.

Beast decided he was going to charge and hit him with everything that he had, preparing himself for any scenario he could think of. He was on the move; the boy put his fists up, ready to fight. Beast decided that he wouldn't charge straight at him but would do a little trick he'd learned from another blue friend.

When he was at just the right distance, Beast jumped and somersaulted. As he'd planned his legs were at just the right height when he'd flipped around to lock around the boy's head. Diving downward, Beast caught his body with his hands and used the strength of his legs and the momentum he'd already created to flip the boy backwards and onto the ground face down.

Just as Beast landed the boy's body was bouncing up in the air. Beast gave him a well-placed kick in the chest, sending him in the air. The boy, as if he weren't really fazed by the beating he'd endured, landed gracefully on his feet. Beast wasn't going to give him a chance to do anything. His body was already moving as he gave him a drop kick to the head. The boy hit the ground face-up. Beast leapt on top of him and began to pound him in the face and chest with a furious attack. After about a dozen punches, Beast picked him up over his head and threw him, with every ounce of strength he could muster, into a brick wall.

With no delay, the boy began to rise to his feet. His face was mush and his chest had caved in from the horrible beating Beast had given him. But his face, as if made of putty, began to reshape to its original form. His chest return to its once broad, strong form and the boy popped his neck by turning it to either side as if to taunt Beast.

Beast's mouth fell to his chin.

"Okay. It's _my turn_ now," the boy smiled evilly as long, bony serrated blades began to escape from his wrists, elbows, shoulders, knees and even his forehead. Small trickles of blood smeared on each one, as he had let them out slowly. Beast had seen advance healing and claws before. This wasn't going to be an easy battle. The boy began to advance and Beast froze, with no thought of what to do.

* * *

_Meanwhile, at the mansion..._

The football game was over and the sun was going down. It was time to head in and do indoor activities. Summer was the best time of year at the Xavier Institute. The kids got all the free time they could ask for. Their curfew was easy rules to follow: through the week, be back at midnight and on Friday and Saturday, be back at three. Being 'back' didn't mean going to sleep. Markas had spent countless days playing football, going to movies, playing video games and living it up with his friends.

_This is the life, _he decided.

He was heading to the commons, where the big screen was. He'd sent Caleb ahead of him to save his spot on the X Box 360. He came in, sweaty, his feet muddy. He kicked off his shoes, pulled off his outer shirt and sprinted towards the commons. Caleb was there, just as he'd hoped. He had a puzzled look on his face.

"Where is everyone?"

"They're still coming inside," Markas replied.

"No, I mean the X-Men. I went to look for Beast real quick and he's nowhere to be found," Caleb scratched his head.

"This mansion's a pretty big place, he could be anywhere," Markas pointed out.

"Yeah, but none of the teachers are hear," Caleb almost stammered. He sounded a little worried.

"Look I'll do a psyche-scan for you and prove that…" Markas was doing it as he spoke. He searched for Beast's line of thought…nothing. He went through the teachers one by one and discovered that only Dr. Summers was in the house.

_Where is everyone?_ He telepathed her.

Markas! Something's come up. I want you to tell everyone to go to their rooms and stay there. There is an early curfew tonight.

What for? 

_Don't ask questions. I don't want to worry anyone._

_Even if I tell them that they are not going to listen._

_Good point. Every student at the Xavier Institute, this is Dr. Jean Summers. Please retreat to your rooms and stay there for the evening. I am issuing an early curfew as of right now. Please do not delay. Go straight to your rooms._

"What the heck was that all about?" Caleb was in even more of a stupor.

"Beats me. It has to be serious. Maybe the X-Men are on a mission," Markas offered. He could tell by the look in his eye that Caleb wasn't satisfied with the answer. Truthfully, neither was Markas. Where the hell was everyone? What was going on?

* * *

The woman from the shadows had made here way to the security room. As planned, it was unmanned, unguarded. As she stepped into the light, it was now visible what she was wearing: black fatigues, combat boots and a black tank top. He skin was olive green and her eyes were black as sin. Her long, black hair fell loosely in a ponytail behind her. She made herself comfortable at the chair and began to look over the display in front of her. There were three large screens before her, each with four screens on it. There were all kinds of controls to activate machines—traps set for any intruders. Her mission was clear: deactivate the security protocols to allow easy access. Her fingers began to move across the keyboard. The system was easily accessed, and unprotected. Obviously, the designer figured that not just anyone could infiltrate the mansion without scathing an alarm

I'm not just anyone.

She began to shut down each protocol one by one. It would be mere minutes before it was time to initiate the second diversion. A wicked smiled curled across her black lips.

_Soon_.

* * *

In a black SUV parked down the road from the Xavier Institute were two men, brothers. They were both dressed in black, combat attire. The windows were down on the hot summer day, letting a breeze blow through.

"She's cutting it pretty close," the younger piped up suddenly. The older brother looked over at him over dark Oakley sunglasses.

"She's never late. My guess is that she will be on time to the minute," he replied.

"She has forty-two seconds."

They waited only a moment longer when their earpieces crackled with life. A voice could be heard from the other side.

"I'm done. I'm opening the gate for you."

The older brother spoke but he did not transmit the message.

"See, I told you." He began to transmit. "Alright, let's get busy."

They opened their doors simultaneously and began a steady pace towards the mansion. Before long, they were walking up the way towards the stairs and double doors. The older brother's fists began to crackle and pop with white-blue electricity and a strange glow began to come over the younger.

The younger brother didn't even bother to reach for the door. He sent a wide beam of light towards the middle of the doors. They flew open with a loud bang. Behind the doors were a few children running in scattered directions. At the sight of the two intruders the panic level seemed to rise.

"You go left and I'll go right," suggested the older brother with an evil smile.

"Alright," the younger brother replied, his facial expression didn't falter an inch. The younger brother began to turn down the left hallway. There was a teenage boy there, about fifteen or so. He looked at him, frightened and angry.

"Get out of here, now! Get out or I'll call the…" the boy didn't have the opportunity to finish. The younger brother hit him with a focused beam of light in the chest. The blow knocked the boy into a spiral. He hit the floor, crying out in pain. He walked passed the boy as if he didn't exist and continued down the hall. A pretty, little, blonde girl tried to run from one door in the hall across to the other. The younger brother hit her with only a mild flash of focused light from his eyes. She crashed into a table with a face on it. Both toppled down to the floor. She looked up and him and cowered away from him with tears in her eyes.

He couldn't look her in the eyes. He turned right down the next hallway and walked past her. He didn't like this part of the mission. He would have much rather been a part of the first diversion.

They are only kids. We're not hurting them too badly…but…Shut up! You have a mission! Focus on that!

He gritted his teeth as he continued to send random blasts of light into random bystanders. The more and more he did it, the more comfortable he became with increasing the intensity of his beams of light. They were like little ants under a magnifying glass…completely defenseless.

* * *

Beast was running out of energy. He already had several deep gashes from fighting the boy. No matter how hard he tried, he could not hurt him. He could only slow him down.

"What's the matter? Getting tired?" The boy was taunting him. Beast realized that he was being toyed with. He was dealing with a mutant much powerful than himself. He turned and ran, with his figurative tail between his legs. He had to get away from him, or it would cost him his life.

"RUNNING AWAY! You're pathetic!" the boy cried. He could hear the sounds of being pursued from behind him. The boy had been pretty lax thus far in the battle. He didn't move or jump around much, but waited for Beast to strike to sneak a vicious slice from his blades in. Now the boy was bent on all fours, chasing Beast. It didn't seem like he should be so fast…but he had changed somehow, his body had extended so that he could position his body like that. Beast turned away and continued to run with all of his might. He could hear the boy snarling and growling like an animal from behind him—like a beast of the fields—

_Like me_.

The pain to follow was unequalled to anything that Beast had ever endured. He saw two spines emerge from both of his pectoral muscles, blood and sinew along with it. The spine had missed his heart by mere inches, Beast determined. He felt the weight of the boy on his back come down on him like a crash. The blades from his knees dug into Beast's middle back, sending waves of excruciating agony through his entire body. Beast felt himself losing his balance as he face-planted the pavement beneath him.

The spines hurt even more coming out than they did going in. He felt them exit his body. He knew the next blow with be fatal; he was so vulnerable. In desperation, piping hot with adrenaline Beast used his arms to sling himself upward in the air from the ground. His body connected with the boy's and sent him tumbled backwards.

Beast continued to turn the corner where his friends were…where help was. In a flash the boy was in the air above him. He kick-flipped off of the wall and landed on the ground gracefully. He was too quick for Beast to react. The boy swung his arm with his wicked blade deep into Beast's gut. He stopped dead on his tracks, looking down in disbelief that there was a foot-long blade in his body. The boy pulled the blade out. Blood gurgled out of his stomach. Beast held the wound weakly with his hands as he fell to his knees.

With a devilish grin, the boy crossed his blades in an X shape. He approached Beast slowly, letting him know what he was thinking. Beast closed his eyes knowing he would soon breathe his last. The faces of Ororo and Caleb crossed over his mind. He smiled as he thought about them and how much joy they'd brought to his life. His smile faded when he realized that he never got the chance to ask Ororo to be his forever.

_For the best,_ he thought. She would find somebody else...someone far better than Beast to love her.

He felt the sharp, crisscrossed blades press up against his neck. He held perfectly still,in anticipationwhat was to come.


	9. Fire and Ice

Caleb could hear screams throughout the mansion. It was unnerving. It sounded as if there were an entire army making an onslaught against the house. He sat at the edge of his bed, looking at Markas, his roommate. Markas looked as if he were equally troubled by the whole ordeal.

"That's it. I have to see what's going on. The X-Men aren't here and Jean's not doing anything," Markas suddenly spurted. Caleb had never heard him call Dr. Summers Jean before. Funny thing for him to note, considering the circumstances.

"So, what are you gonna do?" Caleb pondered aloud.

"I'm going to get the X-cadets and we're going to stop whoever's doing this, that's what I'm gonna do," he tilted his head up a bit as if to signify that he was dead-set in his ways. As the two of them grew up, he wasn't such a take-charge kind of guy, as Caleb recalled. Markas was always the shy and timid one; Caleb was the loud and outgoing one. It seemed that in this place, they'd reversed roles.

"Dr. Summers told us to stay in our rooms," Caleb pointed out.

"Yeah, she's treating us like little kids. Someone's gotta stop whoever's doing this. Kids are getting hurt."

"You can tell that from here?"

"Yeah. I can also tell that there are only three of them. There's a grip of us! We can stop them," he proceeded to send messages telepathically as, Dr. Summers had done earlier.

_Jr. X-Men, listen up. We've got to do something about this. The X-Men are gone. Make your way to the subbasement and suit up._

There was no way to tell if the others were going to respond. He just stared blankly at Markas. He'd heard the telepathic message so he could only assume that Markas had meant for him to hear it.

"Yes, I did mean for you to hear it," he read his mind, literally.

"I can't. I'm not a Jr. X-Man."

"Oh whatever. You don't want to go because you're scared."

Caleb was suddenly indignant. Markas was reading his thoughts without asking him—again. It was one thing to open up to someone willingly and tell him or her the problems you have inside, it was another thing to have them ripped from his mind without his consent.

"Get out of my head!" Caleb fumed. As he said it he punched the wall and it disappeared. He'd accidentally let one of his _booms _out. Suddenly their room and Isaac and Jake's were connected. Drywall and wood chips were everywhere. "You see! I can't control it! I'm going to hurt someone!" There were tears in his eyes now. He didn't care if Markas knew that he was feeling.

"Yeah, the bad guys! C'mon we could use you," Markas tried to soften his tone to reach out to Caleb, to coax him in to coming. He could feel anger surging in his body again.

"I don't want to be used! I'm not going; that's that! If you're such a good little mind-reader you know that you can't change my mind," he hissed through gritted teeth.

Suddenly his mind was on fire. It felt like the worst migraine he'd ever had magnified. What was worst was that he was suddenly seeing every painful memory he'd ever had. Memories he didn't know where there—ones he'd hidden in the back of his mind.

"I _could_ change your mind if I wanted to Caleb," the pain continued. "You're not the only powerful mutant out there."

Caleb had had _enough_. He stretched his hands forward and let out a small _boom_ on purpose. He aimed it straight at Markas. As soon as it connected with him, he flew into the wall behind him. He had apparently broken his concentration as the mental pain had subsided.

Markas stood up, shaken but not hurt, as Caleb had intended. They stared each other down again. Markas turned for the door to the hallway.

"You can't control it, huh?" he said maliciously as he slammed the door behind him. Caleb sat on his bed and swallowed bitterly. He didn't know if he could stay at the Xavier Institute. He'd been told it was a haven of safety and now it was under attack. His own cousin, flesh and blood, had used his power against him and forced him to do the same.

_What next?

* * *

_

Iceman's heel connected with Beast's attacker so fast it would've knocked the head off of almost any human or mutant alike. This was no ordinary mutant. His name was Grendel. He was fabled to be unaffected by weapons as he could heal more rapidly than any mutant known. Those razor sharp blades didn't help things much either.

_Let's see how he deals with me,_ Iceman thought as he strutted towards him.

"We were in the middle of something, you prick! I guess I'll play with you too!" he flexed his arms and started in a full run towards Iceman.

In response Iceman began to beam him in ice. He didn't relent. He froze his feet and ankles to the pavement. He continued all the way up his body and within seconds he was completely encased in a diamond-hard ice tomb. Iceman spat with satisfaction. If Grendel was indeed alive he wasn't going anywhere for a while.

Iceman ran to Beast who was holding his bleeding gut. He had some other superficial wounds but nothing that compared to the hole in his stomach. They had to get him back to the mansion. They had to get him medical attention.

_Lifestream._

The solution was simple. She could heal him in a matter of a minute. Much faster than modern-day medicine despite all of its advances, it could not compete with evolution.

"Hold on Beast," Iceman knelt beside him. "We're gonna get you outta here."

"What's your hurry, Bobby?" an all too familiar voice sounded from behind him. Iceman looked in horror. It was John. He was coming down the road, walking slowly towards them. He had three fiery orbs rotating around him. Iceman couldn't get Beast away fast enough, even if the sledded the whole way. John would burn them with an inferno in mere seconds if they dropped their guard. He could withstand the flames for a while, but Beast couldn't. He'd have to fight him quickly, Iceman decided.

_Hold on, Buddy. I'm gonna get you outta here.

* * *

_

It was clear that Jubilee needed some help. Her fireworks were being completely fizzled out by Aquas's jet stream of water. She was now hiding behind a light pole as Aquas advanced on her, increasing the pressure of her stream of water.

Rogue pulled off her gloves and sprinted towards them, completely out of her target's view. She was on her sooner than she'd expected. She grabbed her head and gripped it between her hands, stealing her life from her. She stopped her attack on Jubilee and reached for Rogue's hands. There was nothing that she could do. She convulsed and recoiled from the trauma she was undergoing.

Rogue could feel the familiar surge of energy, the stream of consciousness flowing into her mind, and finally the mutation. She felt her body change inside as she became one with water, so to speak. With the thoughts and the power she learned how to use the power as Aquas used it. She held on long enough to do some damage and let her drop face down on the ground.

"It's alright, Sugar. You can come out now! I've done and saved the day!" Rogue teased.

Jubilee came out from hiding and sighed heavily. She was dripping wet. She smiled thankfully as she approached Rogue.

"Thanks, Rogue," she said simply. She gave her former adversary a kick. She moaned a little but could do nothing in response. "She ain't going nowhere."

From behind them Storm was leading Cyclops towards them by the hand, a sight that was quite irregular. Cyclops was holding his face, blocking the entire view, but Rogue could see what had happened. His visor had turned completely into gold and so had some of the skin on his face.

_Damn._

"I think that we're all clear," Storm said in evaluation. The Morlocks had retreated and the Brotherhood were all taken care of except…

"I need some help here! Beast is in trouble! Get the X-Jet!" Bobby's voice crackled over the radio receiver in their ears. He sounded beyond desperate. The women looked at each other.

"Jubilee and I will go to Beast. You go get the X-Jet," Rogue pointed out the best course of action.

"No! Hank needs me!" Ororo's voice cracked. She was scared for her boyfriend.

_I know that feeling._

"Where'd you park the X-Jet?" Jubilee asked.

Storm looked up and up and further up still. It rested on top of the tallest building in the area. No one could get to it as fast as she could.

"Real funny, Storm. Get yourself and Cyclops to the X-Jet and we'll go and help Beast," she watched as Storm began to start a wind powerful enough to carry herself and Cyclops to the roof. "Hey! We love him too. We'll take care of him."

Storm smiled, nodded but didn't look reassured. Rogue watched as the weather goddess ascended into the heavens with Cyclops in her arms.

"C'mon! We gotta go!" Rogue said turning towards the corner that Bobby had gone down earlier. When they did come around it, the sight they beheld brought tears to Rogue's eyes. Beast was bleeding in the middle of the road with no one to help him.

_Where the hell is Bobby?_

Suddenly the question answered itself with a vengeance. She could see Bobby was fighting someone on the roof. She couldn't see his opponent but she could guess easily who it was.

_Oh no…he's back!

* * *

_

Jean could sense that Markas and the other cadets had made their way to the subbasement to suit up. He'd directly disobeyed her.

_Good boy, _she thought to herself with a smile. Even in these times, she had to test him…all of them for that matter. If they were willing to suit up and do something about the attack despite the orders they'd been given, they were ready. There was a need and they were going to fill it, whether they were _allowed_ to or not. She thought back on her mentor, who'd never pushed her to take initiative but waited for her to find the courage to do it on her own. She only wished she'd have found it as young as her cadets had.

She stood a proud mother of the X-Men of tomorrow.

_Go get em, guys.

* * *

_

Iceman skated away on a sheet of ice, narrowly escaping the infernal rage coming his way. John had grown so much more powerful than he could have ever imagined. Suddenly the ice underneath him melted away and he fell down hard on the roof.

He instinctively put up a powerful ice shield to protect himself. Sure enough, John had tried to burn him away. Iceman started skating through the air again. He flung multiple shards of ice in John's direction to keep him distracted. He did it again and again, encircling him. Suddenly an explosive heat knocked him to the roof again. He didn't know which direction John was going to attack from so he quickly created a clear ice dome around him.

From his left he could see flames licking away the shield. Iceman busted out of the other side, ready for action. John had not noticed him yet. In a stir, Iceman sent the most powerful beam he'd ever conjured at John, hoping it would connect with his body but to no avail.

John caught the ice beam just in time and began to retaliate with his own flames. The streams of fire and ice met in the middle of them. The fire was evaporating the ice and the ice was extinguishing the flame. It was a stalemate.

_Something's gotta give! _Iceman began to look around for something to use against John. There seemed to be nothing. He just stood there using his power to keep from being enveloped by flames.

* * *

Markas looked around at his team; they were all there: Isaac, Serena, Mereani, Courtney, Jake and Lisa. They'd all suited up and were standing up outside of the displays. Everyone was fidgety, nervous and scared but he could tell they were ready to do what they needed to do. He decided that splitting them up between he and another leader was the best route to go. He was ready to say something when…

"Okay let's get em!" Isaac bellowed. Jake retorted something in agreement. They began to head towards the door.

"Guys, I think that we should split up and take care of both of them," he said.

"No! Let's just go take care of business," Jake protested.

"We need a better plan than that! While we take care of one the other two are going to be causing trouble somewhere else in the mansion. Let's split into two teams like we did in field exercises," Markas decided that suggestion might work better than just trying to take charge. He was right.

"Yeah, we'll do the same teams as we did last time. It's the best way," Courtney reasoned aloud.

"Heck nah! I ain't taking orders from Markas again! If ya'll gonna be doin this I'm just gonna go on my own!" Isaac threatened.

_Great, we finally have the opportunity to do something great and we screw it up because we can't agree on something so simple,_ Markas thought.

"How about this, we keep the same team but we'll have different leaders. Instead of me and Mereani we'll do Isaac and Jake," Markas crossed imaginary fingers, hoping but still confident it would work. It did.

"I can deal with that. Now you ready to see how a team is posed to be lead?" Isaac taunted.

"Can't wait, lead the way," Markas motioned towards the elevator. "One of us needs to left and one to the right, they split up that way."

"I thought you said there were three of them," Jake suddenly piped.

"There are…I can't pinpoint her exact location. The other two are still breaking stuff and blasting kids upstairs."

"Let's get a move on then," Courtney to the rescue—ever the voice of reason. The teams split to two different elevators. As the doors closed and the elevator began to ascend, they waited for the first battle. After their battle they would truly be X-Men after that. An excited smile curled over Markas's mouth as the doors opened.

* * *

The X-Jet touched ground and Rogue watched as Storm emerged from it in a hurry to get to Beast. Rogue could see the concern on her face turn to dread when she saw all of the blood. It was more serious than they'd all hoped. It took all three women to load him into the jet. They were just barely able to do it. He didn't say anything, which was uncharacteristic for the big, blue behemoth.

Rogue was tempted to rush to Bobby's aid and leave Beast to Jubilee and Storm. She had to be so careful not to touch him skin to skin. She was still retaining the powers from Aquas because she'd not yet used them and because of how long she'd held on to her. As soon as Beast was secure Rogue bolted back down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Storm demanded.

"My beau is in trouble too, Storm. Get Beast back to the mansion. I gotta help Bobby. He can't fight him on his own," Rogue's tone was not an asking tone. Under other circumstances, Storm would have argued, she knew but she couldn't this time.

"Go," she snapped simply. Rogue was moving even as the words escaped her lips.

_Hold on, Baby…I'm coming._

She looked up on the roof. It was no a raging inferno. There were fires on the surrounding buildings that were fueling John's power. Bobby had only been fighting him for a few minutes. She had faith he could hold out for a little bit while she extinguished the flames that were aiding their enemy. She reached inside of her and blasted hard at a surface fire. It was up and across the street but the stream was plenty powerful enough to chock the fire. She did the same to some more fires. She had to get up on the roof. She began to look for a ladder or stairs, something along those lines.

Her power would be enough to propel her to the roof. She placed her arms at her side, stood up completely straight, aimed for the ground and ejected the most powerful streams of water she could muster. She was airborne almost instantly. She leaned forward and was able to clear the roof and land safely on her feet.

Bobby was in trouble. He was barely holding off the onslaught of fire coming from many directions. There were still reservoirs of fire that John was using. Rogue began to blast them with all her might. One by one she began to diminish his advantage over Bobby. As she inserted more moisture in the air she knew that she would actually turn the scale in Bobby's favor.

John was now aware of her presence.

"You had to bring your bitch along for the fight, didn't you. Can't fight on your own! You're worthless, Bobby!" He taunted. He rushed forward and gave Bobby a swift kick to the chin. Almost instantly he turned the flames towards Rogue. She used the water to keep the flames at bay. As he continued she could feel the power in her leaving. She couldn't hold out forever, and John knew that. Bobby was going to have to do something fast. John caused random spare flames to spark various things around them on fire, using them as flame reservoirs. Rogue would be engulfed with fire if something didn't happen soon.

* * *

Iceman cleared his head; was seeing stars and his chin was dribbling blood from the clout he'd been dealt. He awoke to see the love of his life shooting a stream of water before her to protect herself from John. He was too powerful for her borrowed ability though. The intense heat from his growing inferno was instantly boiling and vaporizing the water and the fire grew closer and closer.

Iceman had to do something quick. He saw the solution. The flat roof they were on had undergone some cracks and tears from the two temperature extremes battling on it. Water from Rogue's borrowed power was flowing into the cracks—especially so under John.

With no more hesitation Iceman sent a beam to freeze the water in the cracks around and under John. He would drop him through the roof, he decided. Getting to his feet to make better aim he'd almost completed his feat. John became aware of what was going on, but it was too late. The roof caved in a circle around him and he disappeared beneath it, the fires with him. The reservoirs still burned but the source of the problem had just been dropped ten or twenty feet down without warning.

Iceman froze the opening over so that John could not emerge so easily. He ran towards Rogue and he towards her.

"Let's get outta here!" she pleaded.

"We have to finish this!" he countered. They couldn't leave John unchecked. He'd go completely genocidal, burning anyone and anything in sight if Iceman ran from him. They met right outside the new ice circle roof ready to turn an meet up when an explosion sent them flying in the directions they'd come. Rising out of the now fiery abyss was an angry Pyro. He road on the flames as if they were a chariot to carry him.

_Time to finish this!_

Iceman iced up. His whole body was now diamond hard ice. He'd be much harder to injure that way.

"Neat trick, Bobby! I can do that too!" John spat. In bewilderment watched as his body began to glow with fire. Flames came off of his entire body, even from his wildly blonde hair. Iceman watched in horror as John gathered all of the fire, even from the reservoirs to him and blasted it straight at him. Even his strongest ice shield could not withstand the overwhelming fire coming his way. The shield gave way and the flames began to painfully lick at his body. He fell back, put his hands helplessly up and turned away. He could feel cold drips of water drop off of his body. He'd be a puddle in a matter of a minute.

* * *

Rogue's mouth dropped as she looked at the terrible sight. She could only see a silhouette of Bobby writhing painfully under the white-hot fiery beam. She stood to her feet and ran towards Pyro. She had to find a way to get a hold of him. It would be difficult with the flames guarding his frame. She used the last bit of Aquas's power to hit Pyro long enough to extinguish the flames around his head.

Before he could react she wrapped her hands around face, jaw and neck. He wasn't going anywhere.

"NO!" he screamed and turned the fire to come flooding towards Rogue. He was hoping to burn her away from him but it was too late. She had already taken in enough of him to be immune to the intense heat.

"I'll burn in all!" she could feel her body involuntarily catch aflame as his. The fire was growing twice as fast, she realized since they were both powering it. The fire began to move out in a hellish sphere. She began to call the flames back to her as he tried to send them out. He was winning, still stronger than her. She tightened her grip and felt skin give way under her fingernails.

She could see Bobby backing away. The flames were so intense he could only watch from afar. He had to take flight and get off of the roof as the fire continued to grow. Soon the fire had consumed the entire block. Anyone in its path was consumed. She could sense the flames everywhere and all around her. The fire was like an infinite set of extra eyes, where it went, Rogue also went.

Sucking the energy from John she began to grow stronger. She called the flames back to her. She began to win the battle but the longer that she held onto him the more she enjoyed the fire. It invigorated her, captivated her. She decided that he was weak enough to let go of but he grabbed her hands with his and would not release. Soon he was squeezing hard enough to draw blood with his fingernails.

Suddenly his skin began to fuse to hers, unnaturally. She released him from her grip but his body began to fade and turn into fire. The fire was drawn to her. Soon he was nothing more than a humanoid fire pillar. As it entered her body her mind began to be tormented. She suddenly wanted nothing more than to burn the whole world. She fought herself to keep drawing the flames back to her. The more she fought the more she began to realize that it was not her own desires she was fighting, it was John's consciousness inside of her.

He gritted her teeth and worked a thousand times harder to lesson the flames and draw them back to her. He couldn't fight the desire to increase and dwell in the flame. Her lust for it was increasing as the flames drew close to her. In her mind's eye she saw John's face before her, aflame, disfigured and marred.

"You're in my world now," the face spoke with blood and fire escaping his lips as he spoke. She screamed in horror and frustration. Then there was nothing…only black.

* * *

Iceman gasped at the reverse explosion that had occurred. Instead of the flames going outward they'd suddenly been sucked inward in a lighting fast vortex. At the core was Rogue, now lying face down, sprawled out over what was left of the roof she'd been on. John was nowhere to be found. There was no body.

"Weird," Iceman was hardly aware he'd said it aloud. He was much more concerned as to whether or not Rogue was okay. He skated down to her and lifted her up in his arms. She was breathing normally but she was not conscious. He shook her a little.

"Rogue! Rogue, wake up!" He put his hand on her cheek but quickly drew it away. You could easily cook an egg on her head…or on any part of her body for that matter. He hadn't noticed that holding her so close was making him sweat. The heat radiating from her was intense.

_It's just John's power. She's going to retain it for a while._

He lifted her up in his arms. He would skate them back to the mansion. It wasn't as fast as the X-Jet but he could get there in a matter of twenty minutes. As he lifted her up she suddenly jerked. She pushed him away and stood on her own. He looked into her eyes. They were no longer emerald green. They were now red. They were not just red but they were fire. There were actual flames emerging from her inside the sockets.

She looked around unnaturally. Her movements were very jerky and animal like. Something was clearly wrong. She called a flame to her from a small reservoir that had not been extinguished. She tossed the flame around in her hands as if it were a toy. She was completely in tune to the flame.

"Rogue…it's okay. Let's get you home." He reached for her arm but she pulled it away violently. He tried again and she tugged away once more. "Rogue c'mon. I'm gonna take you home!"

"Who's Rogue?" her southern accent wasn't gone but it wasn't the same. It almost sounded…

_Australian…oh God._

"Rogue, you're scaring me. Come here, I'm gonna take you home," this time he only offered her hand.

"I don't wanna go home!" the flames in her eyes intensified when she screamed in anger. He didn't know what kind of creature he was looking at, but it was not Rogue. In frustration he sent an ice beam to extinguish the flame in her hand. He needed her attention. When she realized what he was doing she recoiled and the flame remained intact. If she were angry before, it was no comparison to the fury he was witnessing. Her body began to glow with fire as she screamed.

"I don't wanna go home! Go away!" her merged accent sounded like nothing Iceman had ever heard. Her tone was very childlike too. It was like a little kid throwing a tantrum from not being able to play with his toy. Before he could react, an intense fire blast knocked him backwards off his feet. He wasn't injured. He looked up at Rogue in exasperation. He reached for her but she glowed with fire all the more. Suddenly she was only a red-hot silhouette of fire.

In a flash she was flying away. There was a trail of fire behind her. The heat was giving her the ability to fly, Iceman deduced. She was fleeing fast. He began to skate towards her in hot pursuit. She left a long trail of fire behind her.

_At least she'll be easy to follow_.

Iceman had never seen her react like this before when she took someone's power. Suddenly an entire building exploded, engulf in hellish flames. She was out of control.

_She's gotta be stopped._

He raced after her, determined to recover his confused love.


	10. Call me Shockwave

The volume of children's screams exponentially increased as the elevator door opened. Markas was prepared for whatever was out there. The team stepped out of the elevator with Isaac taking the lead. Several children looked up at them longingly as if to so say, "help us!" The sound of crackling electricity could be heard from only around the corner.

"Over there!" Isaac pointed out simply. They began to advance but before they could turn the corner, Lisa's emergency phone went off. It only went off when there was an injury on the mansion grounds. Usually it was when the younger boys were climbing trees and one fell out and broke his arm, or when someone fell down the stairs and cracked their head open.

_Why would it be going off now?_ He wondered. Lisa's face portrayed the same expression. Still she lifted the phone from her belt and flipped it open.

"Hello? Oh no! Where are you? Okay! No I'll be there! I'll meet you there!" she hung up the phone and looked at them all with determined apology.

"Beast is hurt and they want me to meet them in the hangar. They say it's an emergency," even if the three of them told her no; Markas knew she'd go anyway. Not that he minded, Beast was hurt and she was the only one who could help him.

"Go," Markas waved her on. They would be able to get along without her. Now they just had to hope that none of them got seriously injured. She returned to the elevator. Markas watched as the doors closed and the sound of her descent rang out. There was no more time for delay.

"Let's go," Isaac blurted. "Let's get em!" The turned the corner together and saw a tall, thin, Asian man zapping one of the children. He wasn't doing it to kill the boy, just to tease him cruelly. Markas wanted to do something but he instinctively waited for a leader's command.

"Hey!" Isaac said suddenly stirring a strong current in the hallway, not enough to do damage but enough to change the atmosphere a little and get someone's attention. The Asian man turned and looked at them, his eyes wide with amusement.

"You think putting on those suits makes you X-Men?" he jeered.

"Get out!" Markas piped suddenly.

"No," he mocked. "I'm having too much fun!" He began to shock the little boy again. Markas recognized him, but the name had escaped his thoughts. He was scared out of his mind…that much was for certain. Markas wanted to blast the guy's mind with a psychic onslaught, but according to the way he'd been trained, he was to wait for Isaac's orders.

With a dramatic hand gesture, Isaac conjured a gust of wind powerful enough to knock the man back, into the wall.

"Run!" Isaac yelled to the little boy. He wasted no time to comply. Now, it was just them in the hallway, facing their enemy. Now Markas saw what Isaac was trying to do. He was trying to get the boy away from his grasp.

_So he'd not a complete moron, _Markas thought sourly.

"Is that all you can do? Make little gusts of wind? What do they call you? Wind Boy?" the man continued to taunt them, still not making an attempt to strike them, as if that was what he was supposed to do.

"Actually, they call me Vortex. I bet they call you Queer Lightning!" Isaac was having as much fun as the intruder.

_Isaac, that's enough. If he's not going to leave we need to make him leave_, Markas telepathed him.

Isaac glared at Markas for an instant, as if to tell him to keep his thoughts to himself. The Asian man laughed, though clearly not amused by Isaac's comeback.

"It's Zeus, boy," his fists suddenly crackled with lightning. Markas could tell he was much more dangerous than he was letting on.

"Enough talk! Get out or we'll have to throw you out!" Isaac barked. The Asian man took a fighting stance, gathering more electricity to himself and stood his ground.

Isaac conjured a whirlwind around Zeus, vaulting him in the air without warning. Even spinning around he was able to send a bolt of electricity back at Isaac. Markas put up a telekinetic shield only around Isaac, and just in time. Isaac inverted the winds and plummeted Zeus to the floor. With an under-gust follow up he was thrown into the air again.

"Stardust!" Isaac gave her the order to attack. She showered Zeus with countless 'sparkles' propelling him into the wall behind them. He hit the ground with a thud but wasted no time getting to his feet again. He dusted off imaginary dirt for show, smiled and looked at them.

"So you have some skill…not enough," there was a sudden bolt that sailed harmlessly over their heads into the heavy chandelier above them.

_CRAP!_

Markas used his power to push the wait of the chandelier behind them, only to be launched backward as he had no doubt been hit with a bolt. His body flew back faster than the chandelier as he sailed underneath it and watched it land in front of him. He didn't slide as he hoped but rolled and jostled down the hall until he came to a stop hitting a wall.

His ears were ringing and he could taste the fillings in his mouth. There was a little blood in his ear, he discovered, sticking his gloved hand into the canal. He couldn't take anymore time assessing his wounds. Courtney was trying desperately to keep the lightning bolts from hitting her or Isaac. Isaac propelled his body toward the attacker as if to air tackle him.

_IDIOT!_

His body bounced away on into a wall. The hard wood gave way and there was an impression left where Isaac's body hit. He tried to get back to his feet but was pinned by an onslaught of electricity. He cried out in pain and frustration. He wouldn't be able to fight under those circumstances.

Stardust tried to hit him with her 'sparkles' but he was now using extra streams of electricity to cancel the attack. Markas had to do something. He looked and saw a heavy iron vase that was on a stand for decoration in the hall. He didn't stand, but sat up to get a better view. With his telekinesis, he lifted the vase and centered it in the hall. With all of his psychic might he hurled the vase towards Zeus's head.

The metallic _ping_ that followed was to Markas's satisfaction. The flow of electric currents from Zeus ceased for an opportune moment. Courtney gave a barrage of 'sparkles', blinding and bewildering him. Isaac was up in a flash lifting him up with a powerful wind. Markas ran to rejoin the ranks.

Airborne and suffering the burn-shocks of Courtney's 'sparkles' they need a finishing blow. Markas saw the large window to their right.

_The window! Keep him at bay and help me shoot him out!_

They only thought their agreements but it was all Markas needed. Markas used his telekinesis to move Zeus's body, which was now surging with electricity. It was to no avail; Courtney's marvelous 'sparkles' canceled the attack. He screamed with bloody fury. They had him afloat before the window.

"Now!" Isaac commanded. In unison they all did their part. And so Zeus went threw the window and out of the mansion with a crash. They heard the rustle of leaves and branches, as he no doubt hit a tree on the way down. Markas peered down the window and looked at his motionless body. Curious, Markas reached for his subconscious psyche. He was alive. Markas was glad they hadn't killed him. He wouldn't be getting up anytime soon however.

Markas reached out with his mind to see how the others were faring against the other intruders.

* * *

"Shield!" Serena yelled suddenly. Knowing her and her power, Palisade wasted no time putting up a barrier large enough to encase all three of them. It was just in time too, as a brilliant beam of concentrated light stopped dead on its tracks upon meeting the barrier.

_That was close_.

The light dissipated and at the end of the hall was a tall, young Asian man dressed in black. His expression was grim and unchanging. Jake began to step towards him, with the girls one step behind him. He'd be ready to throw up another shield at a moment's notice. With Serena's power she'd know right before it happened so he was pretty confident he could do it.

"Alright girls, let's do what we do best!" he said. Druida suddenly morphed into a strange, dark cat-like creature. Jake had seen the morph before. When Druida was in that form she was lightning fast. They'd actually clocked her moving around eighty-three miles per hour at top speed. She could also reach that speed in about seven seconds. There was more than speed. The cat had unnaturally long fangs and claws and red eyes to make it scary. A force to be considered.

"Get him!" Jake motioned. He made a shield right in front of the intruder before he could make another light beam. The translucent pink semi-sphere worked well enough. The beam of light didn't escape his hands. Confused he stopped using it. Jake let it down as Druida dove for him. She successfully pinned him under her slender, strong, cat body.

_That was easy._

The boy's body suddenly became entirely light. Instantly he was out from under Druida's grasp and on his feet beside her. He dealt her a kick to the chin. The cat form lifted up in the air. She reared back on two legs, struggling to get balance when he hit her with a beam of light. She smashed through a glass table, skittered across the floor and morphed back to her human form involuntarily. She lie there, bloody and unconscious. Jake tried to react and put up another shield but in a flash of light, the attacker was behind him. He felt a kick in the lower back. Now the attacker was instantly in front of him. He felt his neck being clothes-lined as he fell on his back.

Pain riddled his eyes and body as violent light overtook him in mighty pangs. He could feel the skin on his face begin to burn. He shielded his face with his arms. Helpless he began to worry that he wouldn't be able to protect Serena. He lay under the rays of light…trying to bring up a shield. He was unable to focus because of the pressure and pain. He was completely helpless.

* * *

"HANG ON, HANK!" Storm clasped his hand desperately. His eyes were rolling around aimlessly in his head, as if at any moment he would slip away. He looked at her and smiled. It took every bit of energy he could muster.

"I love you…Ororo. I want you to know that I…"

"Save your strength. You're gonna make it! Lifestream is gonna fix you, baby. It's okay," she pleaded. He only held her hand tired and held his stomach with his other hand.

She looked him over. His once brilliant, beautiful blue fur was now matted with red-brown blood. He was losing more of it by the second.

"The mansion's in view," Jubilee encouraged from the cockpit. "We're almost there, Blue. Hang in there!" She could barely feel his weak pulse over her heart pounding in her body. He closed his eyes and lie back. His breathing became irregularly spastic. He was struggling to stay conscious and alive. He coughed a little and some blood came up with it. With his eyes wide open, his mouth agape, Beast breathed his last breath and died.

"NO! PLEASE, GOD NO!" she screamed her prayer to the silent heavens as the tears streamed down her brown face. She held him tightly. They had just landed in the hangar. The ramp had come down and Lifestream was bolting up the stairs. She came in and realized she was too late. He'd already died. Her power would not work on someone whose heart was not beating. Suddenly, an idea came to Storm. It was crazy but it just might work. Lifestream had already fallen to her knees in tears, no doubt blaming herself for what had happened.

Jubilee offered a comforting hand on Storm's shoulder, as if to help her mourn.

_I'm not giving you up yet, Henry McCoy! I love you too damn much!_

She sent a shock of electricity through his body in attempt to jumpstart his heart. To her desperate, and eternally grateful surprise, he revived on the first attempt. She'd been willing to try it more than once but this was fortunate.

"Ugh…" he gurgled. She knew he would slip away again.

"HEAL HIM!" Storm pleaded with Lifestream. In a stupor she stretched her hands over his body and began to work her miracles. Storm watched as the wounds began to close up. She knew that the lost blood would be replenished as well. In a matter of a minute or so, Beast was healed. There was still blood crusted in his fur, but it didn't matter…he was alive. She held him tightly, and thought she just might never let him go again.

"Don't you ever die on me again!" she said, the tears still flowing. He embraced her back.

"As long as I have you around to give me a jumpstart, I should be okay," he held her tightly. He let her loose long enough to grab Lifestream and pull the shy girl close to his massive form. He nuzzled her close, with tears in his eyes. "And you, I owe you more than I could ever repay. You've given me a second chance I could have got nowhere else.

"You're welcome. I'm glad you're okay," she said shyly returning his embrace. This was one of the most bittersweet moments Storm had ever endured. They all got a turn to hug the big blue teddy bear now that he was okay.

The bliss was cut short when a telepathic message resounded in their heads.

_Guys, the mansion is under attack. The cadets are fighting them off. The rest of the Brotherhood is here. They are going to try to hijack Cerebro!_

It was Jean. Storm knew that the leader of the Brotherhood was a psychic. Cerebro, in the wrong hands would bring a doomsday of problems. There was no time to enjoy any R and R. They had another battle to fight.

Beast let loose of Storm and Lifestream and rolled backwards. He used his hands to flip himself twice in the air. He landed soundlessly on his feet and hands in a gorilla-like haunch. He was obviously good as new.

"Alright! Let's round up the rest of the posse and take care of our next nuisance!" he said bubbling with new energy. Storm couldn't help but laugh. Her smile faded with Jean's next message.

_Lookout! There's someone in the hangar with you!_

Before Jean had finished her thought, a tiny _prick_ hit Storm's neck. She instantaneously fell limp to the floor. She heard other bodies dropping around her. She used all of her remaining strength to pull the barb out and looked at it. It was small, pointed and hollow. Whatever was inside if was now swimming through Storm's bloodstream. The way that it was shaped it almost looked like a fingernail.

_Exus!_

She saw a long slender leg step over her body. She gazed up at the towering woman. Her hands were at her sides and she was missing four fingernails. Storm watched in bewilderment as they grew back quickly. They were not normal fingernails but were the poisonous barbs that had incapacitated them.

"You guys make our work so easy," she said and she disappeared from sight. Storm could still hear her boots clanking against the jet floor. They were subject to whatever she was about to do to them.

* * *

Cyclops couldn't see anything but he could figure well enough what was going on. There was someone in the jet and for whatever reason, the rest of the team couldn't move or talk. He'd heard all of their bodies hit the floor with consecutive _clangs_. He knew the Brotherhood well enough to figure that it was Exus, the poisonous princess, as she was also called. She must have hit them with one of her paralyzing barbs. Why hadn't she hit him?

_Because I'm blind right now!_

He couldn't take his visor off and he couldn't use it. He had to do something, fast! He felt around and found a screwdriver. He could try to stab her to death with it but by the time he found her she could bombard his body with poisonous barbs. He had to think of something.

_Gold…it's brittle!_

He turned to the right and began to stab at his visor. Sure enough, the gold began to give way. If he dug deep enough he break off enough of it to get a clear path for his eyes. He hacked away being only careful enough not to gouge out his own eyes. He saw light to his left suddenly, he was careful not to look directly out it, for his optic blasts would sure escape. He did note it in his peripheral vision. He could see the hole getting bigger as a chunk of gold hit the floor with a clank.

_Damn it!_

If she saw what he was doing she would just hit him with a barb and it would be for nothing. To his frustration, he heard footsteps coming closer to him. He hacked with all his might, gashing his eyebrows and the bridge of his nose.

She grabbed his arm and he closed his eyes, dropping the screwdriver. He felt his body go limp as she stuck him in the neck with a barb. He'd be paralyzed in seconds, but she'd made the mistake of revealing her exact location to him. He turned his head up and towards her, opened his eyes and saw her for only a split second. He had whittled away enough of the gold to hit her with a pretty powerful blast and pointblank range. The top of the X-Jet gave way and he closed his eyes again. She was vaulted out of the X-Jet and he heard her body hit the hangar floor with a horrible thud.

She'd be lucky if she survived the blast, let alone the fall. There was nothing more that he could do now, though. He'd been hit with a barb. His limp body slid out of his chair, his head hitting things on the way down. When he finally came to rest, he could only sit there and be glad she didn't have enough time to kill any of them.

* * *

Caleb looked down at his suit. It was hidden under his bed, spread out so as not to wrinkle. He pulled it up and held it closer. Looking through the shambled wall he saw his reflection from Isaac and Jake's mirror. He walked through the room and over the debris. He was surprised a shard of wood or drywall hadn't broken the mirror. He held it up to him and looked in the mirror. He could hear the sounds of a fight going on from just around the hall.

_No! You're too dangerous and you know it! But they need help! What do I do?_

A ferocious battle raged in his mind but you'd never know it by looking at his face. It was completely expressionless.

He could hear Serena screaming from just around the corner. They needed help. He threw the suit on the bed and began to disrobe, his decision made.

_God, please be with me. Don't let me hurt anyone I love.

* * *

_

Now Serena was pinned under the light. Palisade couldn't do anything to stop it either. She was being hurt and he couldn't even concentrate enough to make a shield. He'd tried several times but to no avail. There was only heat, sweat and pain right now. He could only cry out in agony and frustration.

It ended as suddenly as it had come upon him. He turned his head to see Caleb, suited up in his X-Men suit. His hands were outstretched as if he'd let off one of his _booms_ as he called them. Jake spun his head one more time to see the attacker had flown through a wall. He lay still on the floor in the next room. Jake pulled himself to his feet and offered a hand to help Serena do the same. Caleb went over to Mereani to see if she was okay.

"Thanks, Caleb," Serena said touching her reddened face. "We thought we were toast!" she tried to make a pun out of it but it wasn't funny. Talk like that was only funny in comic books, Jake decided. There was a long pause as Caleb picked up Mereani's tall figure and held her in his arms. He was going to carry her to safety. He stared at them, with a smile he seemed unaware of.

It was the smile of someone who's just save the day.

"Call me Shockwave," he said. Jake smiled too. He hadn't really liked Caleb all that well until that moment. At _that _moment, Jake thought Shockwave would make a great addition to the team.

"Welcome to the X-Men," Jake said. He knew that he had no say-so whatsoever as to whether or not Caleb would get to be an X-Cadet like them. That was up to Jean and Scott Summers. Either way, for the moment. He was on Jake's team.

Isaac and his team came around the corner suddenly. The look on their faces told the story of victory. Isaac and Markas's hair was wild. It looked as if they'd stuck a fork in a toaster and kept the hairstyle.

"Lovin the hair," Jake said, trying to bring some lightheartedness to the table.

"How'd you do?" Markas asked looking around. Jake pointed to the Asian man's body. He laid there, completely still. With as hard as Caleb could've hit him, he's lucky he didn't kill him. "That good? Us too."

Markas made his way over to Caleb, who'd set Mereani on a recliner. She was awake now, wounded but fine. He recognized that he was suited up as they were, and it was his handy work that had stopped the attacker.

"I knew you'd come around," Markas said, giving his cousin a playful punch in the shoulder.

"I just needed a push in the right direction," Caleb said with a grin. He suddenly dropped the expression and looked away.

"I'm sorry," Markas suddenly apologized.

"Don't be. I just needed a push in the right direction," he scooted his boot across the wood floor.

"Well Caleb, welcome to the team," Markas said, extending a hand.

"Call me Shockwave," Caleb said his name again. Jake liked it. It was quite appropriate to his power. The _booms_ were like violent shockwaves…hence the name…yeah he got it.

"Guys! We just had our first battle—and won! We're X-Men now," Courtney brought herself closer to the circle.

"Yeah, some of us have wounds to prove it," Mereani sounded from the recliner.

"From here on out…we don't use our old names anymore. We're X-Men," Jake half-suggested-half-commanded.

"Yeah, X-Men," Markas threw his hand out in front of him and motioned for them to do the same.

"X-Men," Caleb nodded throwing his hand on top of Markas's. Mereani got out of the recliner and threw her hand in.

"X-Men," she repeated. Jake was next, then Courtney and Serena. Isaac rolled his eyes, as if he were repulsed by the idea that they were doing something so childish. He conceded and threw his hand in.

"X-Men," he said in close. They were all there, save Lifestream.

"Where's Lis…I mean Lifestream?" They left their hands in the middle.

"She's healing Beast…he got hurt," Isaac said.

"Oh well…we we'll have plenty of times to act like dorks and do this again when she's here," Jake pointed out.

They stood their, smiling, laughing. They were completely unaware of what lied ahead of them.

* * *

Mindflare walked down the hall of the Xavier Institute's subbasement. His team was completely contained and he walked alone.

_None of that will matter in a minute._

"Not if I can help it," sounded the last voice he'd hoped to hear.

"Jean…long-time-no-see," he gave her mock politeness. She was standing outside Cerebro's entrance, guarding him from going any further.

"I'm going to give you one chance to turn around and go home. GET OUT!" she shouted sternly. He looked her over. She was a magnificent woman. Tall, athletic, with flowing red hair and brilliant emerald green eyes. It was a shame that he was going to have to mar her up in only a few moments.

"I'm taking Cerebro. I'm getting this long-awaited inevitability into motion. Don't stand in my way. I will defeat you," he warned.

"I think not," she said cockily. Under most circumstances, she would normally school him. He knew that she was afraid to use the full extent of her power. She had to keep the Phoenix at bay. It scared her not to be in control of herself. Knowing she wouldn't push herself would give him an edge.

Both of them let out a brutal telekinetic wave. The waves met between them. They fought to hold their ground. The battle had begun…Mindflare, the master illusionist and psychic versus Phoenix, the formidable telepath and unequalled telekine.


	11. The Dawn of War

Iceman stopped, breathless on a rooftop in frustration. She had gotten away, much too fast for him. He tried hard to make sense of what had happened. She had grabbed hold of John and held on to him until the point of death. She had never held onto anyone that long before. Maybe her power was having serious repercussions to holding on that long. He'd chased her for a good twenty minutes before she flamed away, out of his reach.

She had said, "Who's Rogue?" he remembered. She was confused and didn't know who she was, or something along those lines. It was terrifying because she obviously took pleasure in burning things for the time being. John's pyromaniac tendencies had been passed to her.

He took a deep breath, worried to sickness. He could feel tears and nausea overtake him. He was even further away from the mansion. His transmitter was out of range to reach anyone too. He'd have to skate back to the mansion. There was nothing that he could do to help his love from here. He'd have Jean look for her with Cerebro and they would all go together to retrieve her.

He was not prepared to lose his love now. They'd been through so much together. She'd been by his side on and off the battlefield. She was like an extension to him, he now realized. A part of him was now missing, confused, broken or possessed. He couldn't possibly think of adequate words. She'd spoken with an almost Australian accent…like John's.

_JOHN!_

For the first time he really fathomed that he was gone, dead and not coming back. Even if they did get Rogue back she had killed John. Iceman was prepared to kill him if he had to, but now that he was dead he felt remorse. He'd also once been a close friend to him, an X-Man. It took him over at how easily the tide turned one way or the other in life—especially for mutants. This little stunt of the Brotherhood and the Morlocks would get them a lot of infamous publicity.

After a quick rest, he skated off towards the mansion at a grueling pace. He wanted to hurry and help Rogue as soon as possible.

* * *

There were blurred mirages in the subbasement hallway as Mindflare and Jean fought. The mirages were from the extreme telekinetic energy they were using against each other. He proved to be much more powerful than she had anticipated. He was still no match for her, she knew. It was his psychic abilities that worried her. He kept trying to portray the image of Scott, dead and dying somewhere just out of her reach. She was so tempted to turn tail and run but she knew that it was only his mind-altering anti-reality that was making her think such things.

She was a formidable psychic too, one of the most powerful on the planet, she knew, from studying the Xavier Protocols. She was suddenly pressed back by telekinetic punch. She returned with a powerful press. It canceled his telekinetic stream and he flew backwards, flipping and in a frenzy. She took hold of the opportunity to constrict him. Holding his still she turned him upside down and began to spin him slowly.

Keeping her hand poised and her mind alert she approached him.

"Stand down! You are hardly my match, Mindflare!" she warned, ready to crush him a little if his answer was not satisfactory.

"Your pride and overconfidence blinds you. I will beat you because of your fear. You won't let it out," he jeered, speaking of the Phoenix. He was right in one thing, she would not let the Phoenix out under any circumstances. She had it sedated in her subconscious, drawing from its power, but not letting it out completely.

She began to squeeze his body like a boa constrictor would its prey. He gritted his teeth and cried out in pain. A sudden psychic blast made her lose her concentration long enough to loose him…long enough to be blasted with a powerful telekinetic wave. She flew backward and upward crashing her head against the steel ceiling. She bounced of the floor and felt the energy wrap around her again. It threw her against the wall, held her, and threw her into the next. All the while, her mind was being invaded by all kinds of unholy scenarios. She clenched her fists and fought him out of her mind long enough to gain control of her telekinesis.

She sent out a wave that canceled his, and landed gracefully on her feet. She gave the most powerful wave she dared to muster and he gave one to meet hers. They stood in a stalemate of equally powerful telekinetic waves. Jean could tell that he was giving everything. She could've easily pushed harder and knocked him away like a rag doll, but she didn't dare intensify her power anymore…that was just the opportunity the Phoenix needed to burst out again.

"Give it up, Mindflare. You can't beat me!"

"I beg to differ, _Phoenix_," he accented the word Phoenix. She looked at her hands before her, there were psychokinetic representations of flames coming from her body, as there was every time the Phoenix escaped. In a gasp, and momentary lapse in concentration she receded her power. She soon regretted it as Mindflare gave a little extra kick to his own telekinetic wave. The sheer magnitude of the blow hit her like a train. When her body bounced off of the wall and she landed prostrate on the floor. She coughed and to her horror, blood sprayed all over the floor.

There were no longer flames radiating from her frame and there never were to begin with, she realized. It was only trickery from Mindflare's psyche. Before she could react she felt a crown of thorns wrap around her head. She tried to use her telekinetic power but the more she tried, the more mental pain she underwent. She felt around her brow, there was a metal bracket clamped to her head. It was so tight that she could feel the blood running down where the clamps met. She tried to push it off but felt her psyche disconnected from her body. It had locked her consciousness inside of it.

If she pulled it off, she wouldn't die necessarily. Her consciousness would be separated from her body and she would appear as such. She might not be able to free herself from whatever kind of psychic prison Mindflare had put her in. Suddenly a kick in the gut doubled her over. An uppercut to the chin didn't help things either. Staggering backwards he kicked her again and she fell to the ground.

After only moments of relief she felt her body being lifted with telekinetic energy. She was pummeled into one wall, then the other, and the first again. Soon she was bouncing back and forth, she felt ribs give way with each thundering blow. Now, she was pinned to the floor, unable to retaliate in any way.

"Like my toy? I got this little devise from the United States government. It's what they tried to use to control me. They call it the neural inhibitor. It is designed for psychokinetics but telepaths and telekines suffer the same fate. Don't try to break out of it…I assure you it won't work.

"What I need now are your eyes," Mindflare drug her across the floor with telekinesis as he approached Cerebro's door. "If you would be so kind…"

He picked her up and put her face forward towards the door. She stifled sobs of terror knowing the consequences of allowing him into Cerebro's chamber. She gritted her teeth in defeat as the voice cooed, "Welcome, Doctor," and the door began to open.

* * *

The others were nursing the children's wounds and getting them back safely to their rooms. Isaac had winded the two intruders over the fence of the Institute. He'd securely locked the gates and the door too to keep them out. For whatever reason the security protocol had not activated. That was why none of the emergency exits where available. One of them would have to go and take a look at the security room…not that any of them knew how to operate it. The technical stuff was Beast's specialty. They were not able to get a hold of the other X-Men either.

Markas felt some serious psychokinetic energy going on in the basement. It was not Dr. Summer's doing. He reached out for Dr. Summer's psyche and was disturbed to discover that her mind was not only inaccessible, but encased in an unnatural barrier he'd never encountered. Something was wrong.

_Dr. Summers can you hear me?_ There was no response. He decided to sneak away from the others and look into what was going on in the basement. No one else but psychics would have even noticed the unusual stream of thoughts surging though the air. They were ominous…almost malicious.

He entered the elevator and began to descend. Stepping out and turning the corner was like stepping into a bad dream. A broken, bloody, Jean Summers was being dragged across the floor by a man Markas didn't recognize. He was positioning her head in front of Cerebro so that he could get in. Only another psychic would have interest in going into the room.

Jean had warned him about the consequences of Cerebro falling into the wrong hands. Markas knew that he had to do something. This man had to be unnaturally powerful to defeat Jean. Would he even be able to fair against him? He had the element of surprise as it stood now, he decided that the longer he waited the closer the intruder was to Cerebro.

He summoned a psychic blast ten times stronger than what he'd used on Caleb. He unleashed it at the unknowing intruder's mind. She dropped Jean and grabbed his skull, screaming, obviously in pain—just as Markas had intended. He held the onslaught even as the man tried hard to build up barriers. Markas continued to tear it down again and again. The element of surprise gave him an edge that kept the man hopeless.

He felt a stream of thoughts conjuring a telekinetic wave.

_Uh oh,_ Markas had a terrible time using both ends of his power at the same time. He tried to keep the psychic blast on the intruder as he batted the telekinetic wave away. It was a slip, as Markas feared. Walls around his psyche began build by the second. Markas saw that the man…

_Mindflare_…that was his name…

…was concentrating heavily on building up the psychic barriers and reversing the blast to Markas. Seizing this opportunity to make a telekinetic wave of his own Markas slammed the man into the ceiling. He rammed his head and the psychic blast was severed altogether. Markas launched the man towards himself as hard as he could clotheslining him as he flew by. He turned and gave him another wave sending him skittering across the floor. He lay there motionless on the floor. He wouldn't be there for long, Markas knew. He knelt by Jean's side. She was writhing in pain and holding her head. He tried to remove the clamp from around her head.

"NO! You can't take it off, it will sever my psyche! Markas did you kill him? Did you kill Mindflare?" she sounded so desperately hopeful.

"No, I…couldn't kill him…I just…" Markas was exasperated. Suddenly he found himself scared and upset.

"Kill him!" she pleaded.

"I can't kill him!"

"You have to. If he gets into Cerebro we're..."

Markas, scared stood and turned to look at Mindflare. He was on his feet and now Markas was the one under the psychic assault. He saw distorted colors and fire. He saw thousands of beady-eyed bats flying into his face. He felt their tiny claws scratch away his face. He knew that none of it was real but it looked, felt and sounded real. The bats replace a thousand slimy hands trying to grapse his throat. Then a million arrow piercing his head.

"Leave him alone!" Jean could only shout. "Someone help! Anyone!"

Unable to defend his mind, he struck out with telekinesis. The wave was anticipated and not strong enough to suffice. Suddenly Markas was encased in telekinetic energy, being lifted up into the air and held in place. The psychic assault subsided only enough so that he could hear what the man was saying.

"So you are the Phoenix's protégé, Hypno? Impressive. Let me tell you that you will never reach your potential studying under her. She will only restrain you and hold you back from what you're meant to be," he hissed.

Markas could feel his stream of thoughts flooding into his head. This sometimes happened whether either of them wanted it to just because of the telepathic activity going on. He could see what he planned to do with Cerebro. He was going to control mutants, making them attack and kill all of the known non-mutants they could find, simultaneously. It would create an instant war between mutant and non-mutant.

_I hope he overloads his mind with it,_ Markas knew that a feat like trying to control every mutant and making them kill people would be something even for a telepath as powerful as Mindflare.

"Don't worry, I won't overload my mind. All they need is a prompt…the desire is deep inside of them as it is. One shove in the right direction and the car will drive itself," he smiled evilly.

"Don't count it! Not everyone is psychotic like you!" Markas screamed. It was a struggle even to move his jaws and lips because the cocoon of energy he was in. He felt Mindflare's grip tighten on his body like a snake around its next meal. There were a few cracks and pops.

"A war was coming one way or another. The tension grows daily with the government empowering the MCA to have military jurisdiction over us. Haven't you heard about the concentration camps they're herding us away to? Haven't you heard of the execution methods and anti-mutant weaponry they are prepared to use on us? The war is coming sometime or another; I choose to strike first and strike hard. If you live through it, you'll thank me one day when you're allowed to live your life without fear, rejection, or persecution.

"I'm going to build a utopia after the dust settles. Mutants all over will hail me as a god. The age of homo superior is approaching!" Markas suddenly understood he was completely lost. What he was doing was insanity. Starting a war between human and mutant exceed country, creed, religion and culture. Fathers would be turned against their children, children against their fathers. He would gather troops on both sides and so would begin the end of the world as they knew it…

…and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. Markas suddenly felt his skull wreck against he ceiling, as he'd done to Mindflare earlier. As he hit the ground everything became a colorless blur. He wanted so desperately to fight, but could not. He slipped away as life faded to black.

* * *

Mindflare walked into Cerebro's chamber and nearly shouted aloud with delight, as the door closed behind him. The lights bordering the walkway began to ignite with white-hot light. He stepped up to the console and eyed the helmet with a surreal feeling. He wished that Magneto could see him now; he would've been so proud. He always spoke of a war brewing, one that he feared he would not live to see come to pass. Now, Magneto's was living his legacy vicariously through Mindflare in this moment.

The magnitude of what he was about to do suddenly hit him. He was about to start the biggest war that the planet had ever seen, against the will of those who would fight it. Thousands, no, millions would die. Mutants in hiding would come to the surface to fight. Humans would no longer hold their violent intentions against mutants. It would be in proportions to vast to even imagine.

Children would be forced to flee their homes in which they never belong to seek refuge elsewhere. Those in power, those with the authority would tremble as they slipped into their worst nightmare. They'd suddenly be in a place where suits and limos could not save them. They would finally pay due for every mutant they'd ever hurt, however obscure or indirectly.

Towers would burn, and blood would flow freely through the streets like wine from broken casks. The day would go down in history as a day of darkness and war, of death and of a new way of things. The old would fade away and the new would come, reigning the nations with an iron scepter.

A smile crossed his face as he put the helmet on. As the machine began to power his ability he felt the collective psyche of the world. Human and mutant alike, all he had to do was reach out and tap into them. He could make them think they were seeing or hear anything that he wanted.

He found a young girl, praying in a church. Praying earnestly over a job she'd lost because she was discovered as a mutant. He changed her mind suddenly to use her gifts to take vengeance on the intolerant. With a reckless hate he unleashed her.

Another man sat curled in a corner with tears in his eyes. His wife had taken his kids from him only on the fact that he was mutant. He didn't know until after they were married but because of the laws set up in the country, she was able to divorce him and take everything. He urged him to go and do what he really wanted to do. He urged her to crush her lying, cheating, unfaithful face in front of her own children.

On and on he went, prompting as many weak minds as he could to go and do his bidding, or their bidding rather. He merely searched in the dungeon of their thoughts, and found the desires that fear and inhibitions kept them from pursuing. He unleashed them to the world, acting without reserve, retreat or regret. Tens quickly turned to hundreds as the time went on. Nothing could stop him. Nothing.

* * *

We like to think that we live in a world without racism, sexism and prejudice. We like to think that there is a land of tolerance in which we can all live in understanding of one another. We'd like to believe that we could be a friend to our neighbor regardless of his skin color or by what name he calls God. Such a place exists now, only in our hopes and dreams.

Though blatant, open persecution may not exist in the forms of slavery and segregation, bigotry and prejudice still plague the minds of America. Mankind has always feared what it does not understand. Is it so bad, that we are different? Is it so bad that our skin tones are not the same? That we don't all speak the same language?

We live in a happy, plastic world, an American dream. We go everyday with walls around our weakness and smiles to cover our shame. What lies in the depths of your heart? What do you really think about in the depths of your soul where only you've been? What would you do if there were no restraints and no consequences? If you could get away with every murderous desire that you'd ever indulged in thought, which ones would you act upon?

We are so quick to point our fingers at fanatics at the sinner and the outcast but don't even take time to take a look on the inside. Are we so perfect? True hypocrisy is never discovered, so if we're good enough, we can make them all believe we are.

A girl is ridiculed because she carries a Bible in school and prays to a God she's never seen…because she is sure of what she hopes for and certain of what she does not see. A boy is bombarded with racial slurs and labeled with countless stereotypes just because of the color of his skin. Yet he tries his best against all odds, girding himself with strength and courage, determined to prove them wrong.

Our only hope is that kindness and tolerance will rise up as the voice of reason in this land riddled with hate. We are all one people after all. We are all still flesh, bones, blood, heart, mind and soul. We all laugh, eat, cry, sleep and make mistakes. Let us learn to forgive those mistakes and let the past die.

We are really—the same—humans—brothers and sisters.

Every moment is second chance.


	12. Hypno vs Gambit

The man in black felt the prompt in his mind. A smile crossed his face; Mindflare must've been successful. It would take more than a prompt to get him to do someone's dirty work for free. He enjoyed a top floor hotel condo in Puerto Rico. He was watching the sunset, sipping a Corona. Two women whose names he'd already forgotten were sleeping on his bed. He was living the life that most people only dreamed about. He had more money than most countries and had a job that he enjoyed. He'd do it for free if it didn't make him so much money.

He stood on his balcony, wearing only his black fatigues letting the ocean breeze flow through his hair. The streets began to erupt with noise. There were screams, gunshots, explosions and the like. Mindflare's dirty work was throwing the place in chaos. He let out a heavy sigh, fearing that his vacation was going to be cut short because of all of this. He was not suspected as a mutant because he was so careful about his identity. Mutants, thinking he was a human they wanted to exterminate would probably come to his room with murderous intent. He could just prove his mutanthood but it would be more fun to kill them, he decided.

"_Que pasa?_" the women came out wearing only their silk robes. They didn't speak even a bit of English. The man in black didn't speak enough Spanish to carry an intelligent conversation. Their line of work didn't require much intelligence though.

"Don't worry about it," he said coolly sipping his beer again. The sky ignited with fire, the streets flowed freely with blood. The glorious chorus of mutants taking their rightful position in society by force echoed across the entire island. It was a sight to see. The man in black watched the fireworks on his balcony for hours.

His cell phone rang suddenly. He picked it up and silenced it without checking to see who it was—he was, after all, on vacation.

* * *

"Markas wake up! WAKE UP!" Jean was shaking him violently. Her voice had twinges of pain in them. He opened his eyes to see she still bore the neural inhibitor. He had no idea how long he'd been out. He knew that his head felt like someone had hit him in the head with a wrecking ball. Concentrating was going to be hard. He gave himself a psychic painkiller, pushing it to the side so that he could function better.

In a panic he looked at Cerebro's chamber door—it was closed and Mindflare was nowhere to be found. He was no doubt inside of the chamber doing all kinds of horrible things to peoples' minds as far as he could reach. Markas could feel him try to pry into his own mind but he was plenty strong enough to keep psychic subtleties out.

"Is he in there?" Markas knew the answer.

"Yes. Cerebro has a failsafe but I need your help to get to it. Once we get it shutdown, He'll be temporarily weakened. You _have _to kill him Markas. Only psychics can fight him. He's too strong for the normal mind."

"How do we get this thing off of you?" Markas asked.

"It'll take hours. We don't have time! Pick me up with your power and carry me where I tell you to go. We have to hurry, he's already begun."

Markas carried Jean's broken body with his telekinesis as she lead him through the subbasement. He found himself in places he'd never been. They went past the War Room, past the Danger Room and past the Security Control. Other than that, he'd never been elsewhere in the basement. After only a short trip she stopped him.

"Here, it's in here," the door opened for them with ease. Inside was a room larger than Markas had expected. There were all kinds of power generators, weird transparent tubes that contained what could only be explained as liquid lightning. It was a magnificent jumble of machines that Markas could never understand, he knew.

"Here. It's at this console. I'm going to use the emergency shut down procedure. It will drain him of his energy. If you can't kill him then knock him unconscious and put his body in the stockade. Any of the rooms will do. His powers won't work as long as he's there.

"Go now, I'm going to shut it down," she said finally.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," a familiar Cajun voice sounded from the shadows.

Jean turned, just as confused as Markas. Gambit hopped off of one of the generators. His boots made a metallic clang as he landed. He had a weird helmet on his head. It locked around his chin and guarded his neck. It was obvious that it was affixed to keep from being easily removed.

"Remy! Where have you been? Did you meet up with the others? There's no time, we have to stop Mindflare he's…"

"In Cerebro—I know," he said with smile and elaborate hand gesture. Markas tried to dive into his mind but there was nothing there at all. It was the helmet. It was keeping his psyche completely protected.

"Remy what have you done?" Jean suddenly had a look of horror on her face. He only smiled evilly removing his bo staff from its back strap. "It was _you_? You were the one who let them in here. You were the one who gave them information. Why, Remy? WHY!"

"I wish that I could say it's because I support Mindflare's dream of mutant equality, starting a war, building a utopia…what nonsense. He gave me money, lots and lots of money."

"Why did you betray us? Do you realize what you've done? You've just handed Pandora's box to a sociopath! Millions will die!"

"And I'll be filthy rich!"

"Remy this isn't you! He's tampered with your head. He's _used _you! Don't you see that! This is the Gambit that I know!"

"It doesn't matter. Believe what you want, it doesn't change who I am now and what I'm here to do," he began to fan out some cards as he spoke. "Step away from the console, Jean."

"No."

"I won't tell you again!"

Markas was motionless. If Gambit chose to strike he was the only one able to stop them. Every non-psychic on the planet was now under Mindflare's influence. Jean was unable to use her power. Stopping him would rest on Markas's shoulders.

Jean turned towards the console and began to operate. Markas never took his eyes off of Gambit. In a flash he charged the cards with psionic energy and hurled them towards Jean and Markas.

Instinctively, Markas put up a telekinetic barrier protecting them from the attack. The cards exploded with energy and harmless dissipated.

"Step aside, boy. This is grown-up talk," Gambit said. Markas frowned his eyebrows and held his ground. Gambit used to be one of his teachers, a friend. If he had really betrayed the X-Men he was no longer teacher or friend. If Markas had to fight him, he would. He wished that he could call for help. Every time he tried to reach out to someone's psyche, he discovered a barrier that Mindflare had placed around them to keep other psychic's out.

Gambit threw three more cards Markas was able to stop them all. Before he knew it, Gambit was on him striking at him with his staff. Markas blocked the attack with his arm and quickly wished he hadn't. Pain invaded his arm from the blow, he'd no doubt have a bruise there later.

He used a wave to knock Gambit back. He held him suspended in the air and launched him towards the door which opened timely. He was tossed out into the hall. They'd be able to fight better in the open space. Markas ran out into the hall only to see pink cards flying at his head. He was able to duck, but when the cards struck the doorway behind him the explosion of energy sent him stumbling forward into the hall.

An unholy rain of cards came flooding in his direction. Some of them sailed harmlessly past him. Markas didn't have the time to make a shield. He soon felt the explosions hit his body; he covered his hands and his face to avoid as much injury as he could. He was surprised to still be standing after the attack. He was bruised, battered and mad as hell. Gambit smiled, said something in French and threw even more cards at him. Instead of creating a shield Markas stopped them gently in the air with his power. Looking straight at Gambit he ran towards him sending the cards back the way they had come. Gambit was able to stop some of them with his staff but some of them smashed into his body even hard than he'd thrown them.

Knocked off guard Markas dealt him a horrible clout to the chin and followed with a series of punches and kicks he'd remembered from his martial arts class. Seeing that Gambit was ready to counter Markas hit him with a wave, knocking him off guard again. He continued the onslaught and finished with another wave. This time Gambit fell to the floor. He lay there and looked up at Markas with amusement. He wiped some blood from his lip as he got to his feet.

"Not bad, kid. You're going to have to do way better than that if you wanna get one up on Gambit!" before Markas could make any reply, more cards were coming his way. He stopped them easily but was dealt a blow to the side of the head from Gambit's staff. Another blow followed up into Markas gut and another still to the chin. He put his hands up to deflect the attack but his feet were suddenly no longer under him. He hit the ground with a thud, suddenly seeing stars and staring at the ceiling. He rolled to his left as fast as he could narrowly escaping the blow Gambit had intentioned for him.

Markas rolled backward and put up a shield before he looked to see the attack. More cards exploded before him. They were closer this time and he had a hard time containing their energy.

Gambit was on him in a flash. Markas ducked the first attack but was unable to keep from being kicked in the gut. Doubled over Markas only stumbled backward, trying not to get hit again. His head was spinning and he was unable to concentrate enough to use his power. He focused now on trying to dodge Gambit's attack. The cunning Cajun was fast, agile and lethal. Markas would not be able to outfight him in hand-to-hand combat. He'd have to use his powers again. That was easier said than done at this point.

If he could get that helmet off of his head and attack his mind, he wouldn't be such a threat. There were bolts and straps to keep the helmet from being removed so easily. Markas dismissed the thought as quickly as he'd summoned it. He caught the staff in the air with both of his hands. He used his legs to parry Gambit's attempts to kick him away. They stood struggling for control of the weapon and it was soon clear that Gambit was physically stronger. Using strength, the laws of physics, and skill Gambit twisted the staff with a pivot and flipped Markas over into the wall.

Markas was on his feet in a flash, dodging the first slash from the staff. Strafing left and jumping backwards Markas kept his eyes fixed on Gambit. His staff was now glowing electric pink with energy as he attacked with newfound vigor and fury. One hit would be all that it took. With a quick wave, he attacked his footing, and it was just the opportunity that he needed. Pummeling him hard into the floor only to do the same with the floor. He slammed him from floor to ceiling again and again, unrelenting in the attack.

Gambit let loose of the staff, still charged with psionic energy. Markas let him fall to the floor. Markas grabbed his staff from his reach and used telekinesis to keep it from exploding in his hands. He jabbed the end of it into Gambit's helmet and let the remaining energy go. Even if Gambit were not completely knocked out, the helmet was removed. He laid still, blood coming out of his ears as if he'd suffered a concussion. Markas had won.

He turned around when he saw the ceiling lights flicker from above. Jean must've done the manual override of Cerebro—just in time too. Markas kept the staff and went to deal with Mindflare. He found him kneeling, holding his head in pain. Markas reached out with his mind and discovered he wasn't even strong enough to use his power. Markas gave him a psychic blast to keep him from moving around. As he stepped into Cerebro's chamber he had to fight the urge not to freak out because of how far in the air he was suspended. Heights weren't Markas's forte. He gave Mindflare a blow to the top of the head. He felt his consciousness slip away as he fell harmlessly to the ground.

At last, he felt his own exhaustion kick in. He leaned hard on his staff and noticed the sweat and blood dripping from his brow. His bones ached, his muscles were inflamed and he'd used every bit of his power he'd ever touched before. The battle was finally over. All of the 'bad guys' had been taken care of, and hopefully not too late. Markas could only imagine the trouble Mindflare had caused them all. They'd taken a few steps back in the fight for mutant equality, that much was obvious.

He heard footsteps behind him. It was everything he could muster to turn around and look. It was Jean, still donning her anti-psychic crown. She looked at Mindflare's body with approval.

"It's over," Markas breathed.

"No…because of what Mindflare's done, it has only begun."

* * *

"My fellow Americans yesterday was a day of mayhem, treachery and violence. It is clear that this attack from the mutant community against humans was deliberate, planned and organized as every country around the world suffered the same incident that we have. The death toll in this country alone as reached the 100,000 mark!

"Too long have we tolerated the mutant abomination that lives among us! Too long have we lived in fear of who they are and what they can do! No longer! I am placing every mutant in the country under arrest. They are to report to the nearest MCA station to be transported to containment facilities in which they will endure interrogation to find out what part they played in this attempt to assassinate our way of life.

"Any mutant who does not comply will be subject to lethal force. I am declaring martial law with the MCA as the governing power in this situation. I am charging them to contain and capture all mutants and giving them the authority to shoot and kill any who do not comply. More instructions will be given in future…" Cyclops clicked the TV off. Whether the President was done with his speech or not, Cyclops and those under him were done listening. He raised his eyebrows, which were still laced with gold from the night before.

"What was done yesterday cannot be undone. Mutants all over the world began to lash out at non-mutants because of Mindflare's influence. As a result, they will haul us away to concentration camps like cattle, question us, imprison us and possible execute us," he began his own speech.

"I don't want to go to jail!" one of the younger mutant girls sounded suddenly. All of the children were gathered in the commons. There were not enough seats so most were standing or sitting on the floor, still nursing injuries from the night before.

"Don't worry Lorie, I'm not going to let anyone take you jail," he said with a reassuring smile.

"What happened to your face?" a little boy with chameleon scales asked, blinking.

He suddenly changed his scales yellow and green. Cyclops loved little kids. They were so honest as to what they thought and quick to ask questions that they were curious about. They didn't worry about formalities and whether or not it was polite.

"Oh this? I got this last night in battle. A bad man wanted to turn me into a statue made of gold—but Storm was there to save me," he looked over at her and smiled. She smiled and returned with a nod. He was going to try to make a joke out of if, but he figured that the truth, no matter how horrible was the thing the kids really needed. They were now living in a day and age when sugarcoating a situation could mean the difference between ignorance and preparation.

Cyclops continued to speak saying, "As I said before, I am not letting any of us be taken away by the MCA. We may not be able to prove that we had nothing to do with this attack, but that doesn't mean we are not innocent. We will not let the MCA cross our lines and if they try, they will be stopped—by any means necessary.

"I know that many of you are eager to call home and see if your families are okay. We have printed out a phone schedule for all you to make phone calls. Jubilee, Beast and Storm will be monitoring the phones to make sure that the calls do not exceed five minutes each. The elementary and junior high will go first. The upper classmen are to remain here for a meeting."

"Is it true that Gambit sided with the Brotherhood?" asked a freshman guy. Cyclops was hesitant, looking at Jean for what to tell him. She stepped up and began to speak for him.

"It is true that Gambit tried to help the Brotherhood," there was a sudden roar of students talking. They were in disbelief that Gambit would do such a thing; so was Cyclops. Jean continued, "We are all certain that Gambit would have never done something like this if he were not under the influence of the enemy against his will. I will be conducting a series of treatments to discover the truth.

"Now, if all of the younger classmen could _please_ be dismissed," she finished, motioning for the teachers to take them. Cyclops waited, standing still with his expression unchanged as the students filed out.

"Even though the younger students are only allowed to make phone calls to their families we are allowing students who have their own means of transportation to travel and see their families if they wish," smiles crossed the students' faces as he spoke. "This is a dangerous feat for you, however because the MCA will be on the hunt for any lone and unsuspecting mutants."

"Then why let us go? What if we're captured? They could torture us and get information about this place," Caleb suddenly piped. He had a valid point and he'd hoped one of the students would ask.

"The MCA are ordered to shoot and kill any resisting mutants. Even if they are able to find you, and I don't think they will because their efforts in this matter are still in the making, I don't think that any of you would be taken alive. I draw that conclusion from your actions last night," Cyclops said sternly looking at the Jr. X-Men. They hung their heads shamefully as if they'd done something wrong. He couldn't wait until the next meeting.

"Go at your own expense and your own risk, however. We are not responsible if something happens to you and will not come to your rescue if something does. If you are old enough to fight battles on your own, you are old enough to make these decisions as well. Even though we are granting this privilege to anyone who would take it, we strongly advise that you stay here, under our protection." Cyclops was finished. He wouldn't beg them to stay. He believed everything that he had said.

"Now, the upper classmen except for the Jr. X-Men are dismissed," Jean said. They watched as the students filed out. Caleb started to leave with them.

"Oh no, Caleb! Don't think you're getting out of this one!" Cyclops said. It was all he could do to keep from smiling. He wasn't really mad, but proud of the boy for taking the courage to use his gifts to fight for what he believed in. He looked around at their faces. They repositioned themselves on couches and chairs as the spots opened. When they were all situated, Cyclops broke a grin. Jean came and took his arm.

"I just want to congratulate you on your first successful mission, X-Men. As you know, the initiation into the X-Men is after your first battle, which you were all a part of last night. Your teamwork helped to repel our enemies and kept a lot of the kids from getting hurt.

"There is no turning back now; you are no longer cadets, but full-fledged X-Men, ready to be dispensed into battle. That doesn't mean that you are free from training. We have a _lot_ of work to do and many things still yet to teach you.

"Normally, as those of you who have been here for a while know, we have a big ceremony and coronation for graduating X-Men. I'm afraid, under the circumstances we are unable to do that for you now. We do have your rings for you. For those of you who didn't have your ring sized, we guessed at the size and gave you chain to wear it around your neck until we can get you another one.

"As your name is called, please come and get your ring."

"Vortex," Jean called first, holding his ring in her hand.

He came proudly up to retrieve his ring. Cyclops reached out to shake his hand. Isaac took it and gave it a firm shake. Jean gave him his ring which he donned immediately.

"Heck ya! First one, baby! It's 'cause I got skills!" Isaac said, jokingly. They all laughed at Isaac being Isaac.

"Druida." Mereani rose. She shook Cyclops hand and retrieve her ring, with silent pride, with happiness beaming clearly from her face.

"Palisade." Jake came quickly shaking Cyclops's hand. He took his ring and looked at it with at admiration.

"Stardust." She had tears in her eyes as she came to receive her honor. She wrapped Cyclops in an embraced. He returned it with a smile said,

"Congratulations."

"Hypno." When Markas came up Cyclops leaned in a whispered in his ear, still clasping his hand.

"Thank you for what you did. You protected my wife when she could not do so for herself. I owe you more than you know." He looked into his eyes, threw protective sunglasses and watched him nod with his goofy smile. He took his ring and gave a hoot.

"Chrona." Serena rose and repeated the ritual as the others had before her.

"Lifestream." Lisa did the same, bet so shyly.

"And Shockwave." Caleb looked distraught, moved and speechless, as if he could be knocked down by a feather. He stumbled up and shook Cyclops's hand.

"But…I'm not…I'm mean I haven't had the…"

"Welcome to the X-Men," Cyclops cut him short putting hand on his shoulder.

Caleb took his ring and sat down. Cyclops let Jean take the stage.

"I want to give a special honor to one of you. Without him, the Brotherhood would still be in possession of Cerebro. He saved countless lives with his bravery and willingness to act in the face of adversity. Hypno, please rise again. Come and except this silver X.

"This is the highest honor awarded to our soldiers. It represents justice and bravery, both which you showed exceedingly yesterday. Your actions will never go forgotten," she smiled as Markas came and took the pendant.

"Will the rest of you please rise to honor your team captain: Hypno," Cyclops said. Markas whirled with surprised. Cyclops noted that Jake and Isaac were not as enthusiastic as the others, but that much was to be expected.

"And now, I salute you as the next generation of X-Men."


	13. The Wandering Rogue

The day the students began to disperse, Iceman suggested that meeting be called. Jean quickly agreed and now the X-Men, save for Gambit and Rogue sat round the meeting table. Iceman had been away from the mansion when everything went down, but he remembered Mindflare taking control of his mind and icing innocent people on the streets. Iceman felt horrible but he knew that he was under Mindflare's control. Similar scenarios had played out with the X-Men who were elsewhere in the world. Nightcrawler and Shadowcat gave similar testimonies to his.

He was dumbfounded when he discovered Gambit's betrayal. Jean suggested that he was probably under Mindflare's spell long before he gained access to Cerebro. As it stood, he was in the stockade along with Mindflare and Exus. Jean would have to read his mind to see if it had been tampered with or if he had really betrayed them. One was much more forgivable than the other, Iceman knew.

It was his turn to speak now. He was supposed to fill them in with what happened with the fight with Pyro and with Rogue. He gave a detailed report on his fight with Pyro and how Rogue had saved him. He also told them about how she'd held on so long that he had just vanished. He told them she had retained his power and was confused about her identity.

"I think that Pyro's psyche, or at least a part of it, took over part of Rogue's psyche. Her power is a complete mystery and phenomenon—its possibilities and side effects endless.

"It doesn't surprise me that she retained his power for so long. She may even adapt his gifts or a variation thereof forever," Jean proposed. As a medical doctor and mind reader she was the best source of information as to the effects of mutants' powers. She had detailed files of nearly every mutant on the planet in the Xavier Protocols. They had never anticipated something like this with Rogue, though it all seemed to make sense as it was pondered.

"That's all great, but do we do to get her back?" Iceman narrowed his gaze.

"She may not be ready to come back. You said yourself that she was confused. Maybe, as the effects wear off, she will return," Jubilee offered.

"The MCA would get to her before that. She's a known mutant because of the battle with Apocalypse. She's probably a primary target for them even now," Storm warned. She was right. Something had to be done immediately.

"We need to retrieve her and bring her back here as soon as possible. In the state that she's in she's a danger to herself and those around her," Cyclops stated. She had always been a danger but now that she could burn things at will she was even more so.

"She may not want to come back. We need to prepare for her to fight us. Of course we won't harm her but we may need to incapacitate her," Beast pointed out. Even though he didn't like the idea of having to fight Rogue, Iceman was prepared to do what needed to be done to help her. She would do the same if the shoe were on the other foot.

"Well the first thing that we need to do is locate her. I can use Cerebro to find her. I might even be able to reason with her from here. You can all take a recess. As soon as I'm done I'll call another meeting to make a decision," Iceman rose, deciding that he would try to take a nap. He didn't think that he'd get much sleep worrying about Rogue but he needed the rest and it was worth a try.

* * *

Jean sat in Cerebro's chamber, donning the helmet searching desperately for Rogue. When at last she found her, she didn't recognize the brainwaves. They were a jumbled mix and mess of Pyro and Rogue's. There was no way that Jean could do anything with here from Cerebro. It was going to take her some time to separate the two minds from each other.

She was eager to get Rogue back home for a new reason now. Two consciousnesses streamed together to form one was something that she'd never encountered and, as far as she knew, neither had Charles Xavier. She decided to communicate with Rogue, seeing if she could make any progress. She decided that she would make an astral projection of her body to appear before Rogue. It would be less frightening than hearing voices in her head.

Jean was suddenly somewhere in Canada, in the wilderness.

_Is she going to look for Logan?_ That would make sense. Wolverine had been Rogue's closest friend, next to Iceman. She fought a wave of emotion as she remembered that he was gone. That was not the concern right now. She stood behind Rogue, who was at the edge of a cliff looking on at the forest.

"Rogue," Jean said simply. She spun in a whirl and put up her fists, as if ready to fight. "It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm a friend."

"Phoenix?" she asked, a look of uncanny bewilderment upon her countenance.

"I haven't gone by that name in a long time, you can call me Jean. Do you remember me, Rogue?"

"Yeah. You're the crazy psychic bitch that caused all that trouble a while back," Jean was taken back by her harsh tone. Also, her southern accent was mixed with an Australian one. Everything about the two persons had been fused together.

_Extraordinary._

"Rogue, what happened? Do you remember what you did yesterday?"

"No…I…uh…why do you keep calling me that? My name is not Rogue…it's…it's…" a silver tear came down her cheek. She was in worse shape than Jean could've imagined. Jean decided to flood her with truth seeing if she could break anything.

"Your name Rogue. You are an X-Man. You had a fight with Pyro, you killed him in battle, and you absorbed part of his psyche. I want to take you back to the mansion. Bobby is waiting there for you…"

"Bobby? Iceman! I don't wanna see him, or you or anyone else. I don't even know you! I don't know me! Get away from me!" she screamed, tugging at her hair with her hands.

"Rogue, it's okay. I know that you're confused, but I can help you. I can get you back to the way you were. I can fix it!"

"I don't wanna fix it!" Suddenly a flame shot from Rogue's hand and enveloped Jean. It didn't harm her in the least because she was only there in astral form. She stood amazed at Rogue's new power. A day had past and she still had the ability to create fire.

_Wait a minute!_

Pyro could always manipulate the flame but was never able to create it. Rogue had not only _retained _his powers but had _evolved_ them. The rabbit hold kept getting deeper. The flame receded and Jean stood there, trying to keep her expression affectionate so as not to anger the creature before her. Her eyes now glowed with fire—actual flames burned from her irises. They soon returned back to their normal, green color. She calmed down a little bit.

"Let's take it easy. I'm not going to hurt you. Who do you think that you are?" Jean could see that she was only fueling Rogue's rage. More flames overcame Jean and did not relent.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Rogue said, burning with Pyro's fiery anger.

"I just want to help you!" Jean exclaimed. Nothing was taking. Jean began to project the most recent moments that she and Rogue had had together. She brought her back to the mission briefing, the meeting about Caleb several months earlier. She brought her back to when she'd saved mutantkind by destroying Apocalypse.

"Stop it! STOP IT! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" she screamed. Suddenly her whole body burst into flames and Jean stopped. Her clothes were not burned away, nor were her hair and skin. She stood before her now, a human torch. The fire grew around her and she began burning the forest around her.

Jean quickly decided that they would have to got to her and detain her so that Jean could begin repairing her mind. She ported back to Cerebro, powered the machine down and got ready to call the others.

* * *

"The two persons, Rogue and Pyro have become one person. Their consciousnesses are completely merged so intricately that she is neither one or the other but a new creature is born from the combination of the two, more powerful than either one before," Jean explained.

"You said that she was able to summon fire, does she still retain her own power?" Beast asked.

"I can't know for sure but I would imagine that her powers have evolved as well. To put it simply, Rogue as taken on the entirety of another mutant into her being, exponentially increasing her power. The side effects are extreme. She is both Pyro and Rogue and neither at the same time," Jean made a face that said that even she was confused at the situation.

"That's the most interesting thing I think I've heard. Mutant fusion. Incredible," Beast beamed.

"Well that mutant fusion is scared, confused and out of control. We need to get to her now before she burns every tree in Canada," Iceman pointed out.

"Agreed. Scott is prepping the X-Jet now. You two and Lifestream are going to go and pick her up. Iceman I want you to try to talk her, maybe you can trigger a part of her that is still intact. If reacts as she did to me, Scott will knock her out with his optic blast. In the case that she's hurt, Lifestream will heal her wounds and give her a shot that will keep her unconscious.

Iceman didn't like the idea of Cyclops blasting his beloved but he also knew that it might come to that. She was wild and untamed now—an infernal rage waiting to explode. Lifestream would be there in a flash if the need arose. Iceman had a soft spot for the girl in his heart. She was so shy and hesitant with her powers; she did not realize what an incredible blessing her mutation was. She had saved Beast's life. Storm had given him a jump-start, from what Iceman had heard, but without Lifestream he would have only died again.

"I'm gonna suit up and head there. I guess you're staying here again?" Iceman kicked himself inwardly. He had not meant to say the word 'again.' It made it sound like he was condescending her. He knew that she could read minds and knew that he meant no offense in any way, shape or form. The others stiffened and waited for her response.

"Yes," she said finally. "I'm going to ready the machines to do a full scan of her. If all goes as planned I will be able to keep her sedated while I fix her mind problem. Then, we can wake her and she should be somewhat back to normal."

"Somewhat?" Iceman frowned.

"I'm almost positive that the effects of all this are permanent."

"So you won't be able to help her?" Iceman was confused.

"No I will be able to help her. I will be able to separate her psyche from Pyro's, bringing hers to the front and hiding his away in the deep coves in her mind. She will probably always carry parts of him with her."

"What kinds of parts?"

"Personality traits, subconscious habits, taste in food, movies and whatnot—his mutation," she added finally.

"She's going to be able to create fire forever?" he was doubtful.

"It's possible. It seems probable that it could wear off over time as the times before but the evidence supports that it's a permanent thing," she sounded sure when she said, "permanent thing."

He could live with anything, as long as she was back, safe in his arms. The thought reminded him of how careful they had to be about touching. They'd accidentally brushed hands enough times to count on both hands. He shuddered at the thought of the pain that came when her power was activated. It felt like dying every time it happened.

He didn't say anymore to anyone else but began his descent to the subbasement to suit up. As he approached the display cases Lifestream emerged from the woman's dressing room, suited up and ready to go. Nearly all of the X-Men wore black suits; there were a few exceptions. Vortex wore a white suit with double black stitches simply because it was, "pimp." Lifestream donned a classic black suit with green stitched X's for décor. Her design was a lot like his but his suit had ice blue stitching.

She laughed shyly and walked past him. He smiled back and watched her go. It was such a shame that she was so shy. Iceman didn't mind shy people, though he preferred extroverted people like himself. Her shyness was almost dysfunctional. He cleared his head and suited up, making his way to the X-Jet.

He was about to take the co-pilot's seat next to Cyclops but decided that he would sit with Lifestream. She looked like she could use some company.

"Do you mind if I sit next to you?" he asked with a smile.

"I…uh…no…go ahead," she blushed as he sat next to her and buckled himself in.

"How are you doing, Lifestream? Or is it Lisa? Which do you prefer?"

"You can call me whatever you want…I mean! Sorry…" she was fidgety and nervous. He wondered if he was doing her more harm than help.

"What do you like to be called?"

"Jake said that now that we're X-Men we should call ourselves by our mutant names," she said, never looking at Iceman but looking past him or to the floor.

"Oh he did, did he? So is Lifestream okay?"

"Yeah. I like Lifestream," she said quickly.

"Okay, Lifestream. How are you?"

"I'm okay," she replied. She was an orphan and knew of no living relatives so she didn't have to worry about loved ones.

"Are you excited about your first mission?"

"It's kinda scary. They said that Rogue isn't herself. They said she might try to burn us," she finally looked at Iceman.

"She might. She needs help; they're right in saying, 'she isn't herself,'" he said returning her gaze. She looked away again.

"I promise if she gets hurt, I'll heal her," she blurted suddenly. She turned away again as if embarrassed for speaking without being spoken to.

"Thank you, Lifestream. I know you will. You have a great gift—your healing. You saved Beast's life," he complimented.

"Oh that…it was nothing. Well not his life…but…oh…sorry," she apologized whenever she said something that didn't sound like what she wanted it to, he decided.

"It was something, Lifestream. Don't sell yourself short. Beast wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you," he objected. He may have taken too harsh a tone on her.

"You're right. I'm sorry," she completely turned her head now, afraid to look at him.

"Lifestream," he got her to turn and look at him. "If you ever need anything—a friend, someone to talk to, company—you name it. Just let me know."

"Okay…thanks," she smiled at him and looked him in the eye. It was only for a second but Iceman was content. Only Jean had ever been able to reach out to Lifestream to build a relationship with her. There was Shockwave too, but that was because she was clearly infatuated by him. He felt that he'd made some progress and broken some ice. He snorted to dismiss the pun.

Enough thinking…he had a mission to worry about…he had to help Rogue…no matter what it took.

* * *

They stopped long enough in the burning forest to let Iceman put out the forest. They were following the trail of burning wood, hoping that it would lead them to Rogue. Iceman led the way so that he could put out the fires as the walked. Cyclops was close behind him and Lifestream tailed about ten feet behind him.

The fires were getting closer together and less intense, as if they had not been burning as long. Soon she was in view. She stood peering off the edge of a small rock summit. She was gazing over the endless trees before her. She was in the area that she said that she'd first met Wolverine. Was that who she was looking for? Even if she knew she was looking for someone there she probably didn't remember who or why.

"There she is. Iceman, go ahead and approach her. I'm going to stay back here. I have a clear shot right now. If anything goes wrong I'll blast her and Lifestream will heal her. We'll take her to the X-Jet and go home. Stay over to the left so that I can keep the shot," Cyclops ordered.

Iceman didn't respond but only obeyed. He climbed his way up to the rocky summit. She must have heard him approaching but she didn't turn around.

"Rogue?" he asked. She turned and looked at him, eyeing him from head to toe as if she didn't know what to make of him.

"Iceman?" she asked with little tone.

"Uh…yeah. It's Bobby. I'm here to take you home, Rogue," he reached out his hand and she backed away. He held his hands up to show her he wasn't trying anything.

"Where's home?"

"The Xavier Institute in New York."

She laughed loudly and fixed her eyes on him.

"That's not home anymore. I don't want to go there," she had a childlike quality and tone in her voice now.

"Where do you want to go?"

"To the mountains. Logan's up there waiting for me", she pointed to the mountain chain in the distance. It was still a hundred miles away from where they were. Even if she did reach the mountains, Wolverine was swallowed by an avalanche in the _Himalayas_—not the Canadian Rockies. She was worse than he thought.

"Baby, Logan's dead," he said simply. "He died in the avalanche, remember?"

Tears of fear, pain and confusion began to flow from her eyes.

"I don't remember anything. I don't know who I am? Do you?" she asked, wiping away tears.

"Yes. You're name is Rogue and you're my girlfriend. You're one of the X-Men. You grew up in the south. You had a fight with Pyro and you held on to him too long and…"

"PYRO! I remember!"

"Yes, you had a fight with Pyro and…"

"No! _I _am Pyro," she argued. She was so lost Iceman fought to maintain composure. He could only hope that Jean was able to rescue her from the purgatory of confusion her mind had become.

"No…you're Rogue. I'm Bobby, Iceman you're boyfriend. I love you and I've come to take you home Rogue," he grabbed her by the shoulders before she could react. She stared into his eyes, two glowing emeralds gazing at him. Suddenly a light came to her eyes and smile to her face.

"Bobby!" she wrapped her arms around him her southern accent coming back all the way. Was that it? Was she back?

She leaned in to kiss him on the mouth and he backed away. She gave him a look, smiled and tried again. He backed away, letting loose of her now. She didn't appreciate the rejection. She screamed and burst into flames. The explosion of hot air knocked him back and on his butt. He stared at her in horror. She looked like some sort of demon with flames radiating from her body. Especially when they came from her eyes, nostrils and mouth.

Just as the flames began to come dangerously close, a pink optic blast barreled into her, sending her flying into a tree. The flames were extinguished before she hit. She hit her head pretty hard and a small trickle of blood ran down her forehead and onto her cheek. She was unconscious, but clearly breathing. Lifestream immediately healed her wound and wiped away the blood, with her gloved hand.

She turned and looked at Iceman with the syringe filled with a powerful tranquilizer as if to ask permission to inject her. He nodded and gave motion of his hand. She swabbed her neck with alcohol and administered the drug. She wouldn't be waking up or bursting into flames anytime soon.

We can only hope…

* * *

Two days long days had past since they'd brought Rogue in. Iceman had barely left her side while Jean worked to repair her mind. She'd been working ten hours each day on her only stopping to eat, drink, go to the bathroom and sleep. Iceman had not shaved or showered in the last too days. He'd only eaten a few meals.

He couldn't leave his love alone. He watched her as she slept, often running his fingers through her long, curly, auburn hair. Jean always encouraged him with words, saying that she was making great progress and that it was only a matter of time. Her expression was stern and deeply troubled. Jean had used Iceman's memory to reinsert memories of experiences he'd had with Rogue. She brought some of the other X-Men in too, but she used his because of how much time they spent together.

He was sitting in a chair across the room. He was tired. He hadn't slept more than four hours in the last two days. His head and eyelids were heavy. He could feel himself nodding off.

"Okay. I think we can try to wake her up now," Jean said suddenly. He hopped to his feet and bolted to her. "She may seem a little confused still. Some of her memories are still lost and fragmented but for the most part, she and Pyro's minds are separated."

Jean stepped back and suddenly Rogue began to stir. Iceman leaned over her, he wanted to be the first thing she saw when she was back to normal.

"Bobby? Where…where am I? What happened?"

"Everything's going to be okay, Babe. How do you feel?" he rested a hand on a part of shoulder that was clothed. She sat up and looked around.

"I feel fine…actually I feel great!" she admitted stretching. "I'm hungry as a race horse after a run though!" she said looking around again. He laughed, fighting back tears of joy to have her back.

"Oh Bobby! I'm so glad to see you. It seems like it's been forever…the last couple of days have been a blur," she shook her head and made a face. He was glad that she didn't remember too much. It was probably for the better. She reached out to grab his hand and he drew away.

"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. I can control it now," she assured him. He stole a glance at Jean and she nodded.

He let her touch his hand. He felt the warm caress of her touch, the tingle that happens only when two people make physical contact. There was no pain, no feeling of dying. She wasn't stealing his powers or anything. She caressed his cheek with her other hand and pulled him towards her. They kissed passionately. Though it was not for the first time it was the first time without consequences.

It felt awkward, displaying that kind of affection with Jean in the room but surely she understood. Suddenly she stopped kissing him and looked him in the eyes, which had little flames where her pupils once were.

"What the bloody 'ell?" she pushed him away from her with all her might, he stumbled backwards but didn't trip. "What do you think you're doin, kissin me like that? You're a bleedin fairy, at's what y'are!" Pyro's Australian accent began to bleed out of her. She was no longer Rogue, she had become Pyro.

"John?" he tried.

"It's Pyro to you, you nasty bloke! I oughta burn you alive for that!" she sent a burst of flame through the air without warning. Iceman had just enough time to create and ice shield to guard himself. He continued to extinguish the flames and she continued her fiery onslaught. Jean snuck up behind her and put her hands on either side of her temples, rending her unconscious in seconds. The flames evaporated and Rogue fell back on the stretcher, motionless.

"What…the hell…was _that_?" Iceman glared at Jean for answers. She bit her lip and looked at him solemnly. He knew that he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.


	14. Exodus

Caleb stared hard out the passenger side window of the jeep. His church was a mess. The parking lot had fissures and crags stabbing their way out of the earth. Windows were broken and there was crime scene tape circling the doors. It didn't even look too much like a church now. The steeple had fallen away, its whereabouts unknown.

"This doesn't look too good," Markas admitted. They had driven his car home to Illinois to check on their families.

"No, it doesn't. I'm gonna go ahead and take a look around. You go and see if your family is okay," Caleb unbuckled his seatbelt as he spoke. He stepped out, shut the door and waved to his cousin through the window. Markaspulled aU-turn. He returned the wayhe'd comeand started off in the direction of his home, a few cities over from where the church was. Caleb had already been to his mom's house and his dad's. He had discovered his mom sitting at the table, looking very sad, but other than that, okay. His dad and step mom were out in their yard working on picking up wreckage, the dog playfully chewing on a piece of wood.

He had approached neither home. He couldn't bear being reunited with his parents again. He was a mutant and they were not. He didn't want to be blamed for anything more than he already had. He had Markas drive on by, content to see that they were alive.

He climbed under the yellow crime scene tape and tugged on the church door. It was locked but the glass was broken out of. He ducked down and came in through the bottom. The foyer was pretty much unscathed. There was more crime scene tape stretched across the doors of the sanctuary, which was to his immediate right. He heard music playing through the sound system and a familiar voice singing along with the music. It was a true and strong soprano, echoing through the halls. He knew exactly who it was. He stepped between the strips of tape and saw her. She was kneeling at the altar with her back to him. There were chalk outlines on the floor, indicating that people had died there. There were all kinds of crime scene flags sticking up out of pews and on the walls. Some of them were stained with blood, not a lot.

Occasional sobbing stifled her singing; she was weeping. Her hair was a lot longer than it was the last time Caleb had saw her a year or so ago. Her slender frame was knelt at the altar with her jubilant red hair hanging loosely to the floor. Her hands were raised on either side of her body, lifted towards the heavens. Normally Caleb would not interrupt her worship and prayer but he was only going to be in town for this day and then he was leaving. He needed some answers.

"Lindsey," he said simply, getting her attention. She started and turned to him, frightened. Her face and eyes were red from steady crying. She had a collection of tissues before her. Her mouth opened as she stared at him in disbelief. She didn't smile.

"Caleb? What are you doing here?"

"I came home to see if my family was okay after what happened," she looked at him as if she expected him to tell her more. "They're fine."

"Glad to hear it," she said and she looked away, staying knelt on the floor.

"What happened here, Lindsey?"

"The same thing that happened everywhere else. Mutants suddenly started attacking and killing humans without warning or reason. No one knew what hit them or why their own family was lashing out at them," she began to tremble, a fresh batch of tears falling from her eyes. "I couldn't stop myself! I could see what I was doing and I knew that I needed to stop but I couldn't bring myself to. I killed people, Caleb! Aunt Pam…Nana…I…I…" she ended in a cry of defeat. Caleb put two comforting hands on her shoulders as he knelt beside her. "I killed them. I could see what I was doing in my head but I could not stop myself. Something came over me and I…I…"

She could manage to say no more. She went into a fit of wails, moans and screams. The tears flowed freely from her eyes, completely uninhibited. Caleb sat beside her for a while and waited for her to calm down. He hated to see her like this. She was not alone; her story was the story of many mutants who had suddenly turned on non-mutants without warning or control of themselves.

The bright, joyous Lindsey that he'd known had completely left the empty shell that was before him now. She looked frail, angry and hopeless—like she had given up on everything. He decided as she began to gather herself that he would tell her what really happened.

He didn't mention anything about the earthquake he'd caused or _how_ he joined the X-Men but only that they recruited him. He told her of Jean Grey-Summers and the X-Men. He spoke of the Xavier Institute for mutants and how they helped mutants control their gifts. He told her of his experience in the Danger Room and about how mutants were put into a ranking system. Since she knew Markas or at least knew who he was, he mentioned him. He told her of how a lot of mutants gave themselves new names based on what they could do with their powers and he named off a few of them.

"What's yours? Do you have one?" she asked curiously.

"Yes, mine is Shockwave," he repeated with pride.

"Why Shockwave? What do you do?"

"I can release these powerful _booms_ as I call them or shockwaves from my body," he said.

"That's all?"

"They're pretty intense," Caleb came back.

"How intense?" She looked at him as if she wanted a demonstration. He wasn't about to show her. He continued telling her his tale.

At last he told her about the Brotherhood and what they stood for. He began to replay the events that happened in New York City and at the mansion. He told her of Mindflare and about Cerebro. He was sure to reiterate that it was his fault that all of this was happening and not hers. She was under his spell, so to speak. She listened most intently when he spoke about Mindflare and the Brotherhood.

"Do you know where they are?" she asked darkly.

"Yeah—well some of them. Mindflare and a woman named Exus are locked in the stockade cells that we have there in the subbasement. I'm not sure how long they'll stay there or anything like that…it's really not my decision," Caleb explained.

"Can you take me to them?" she asked hopefully. There was still an ominous air to her. Suddenly Caleb thought he had a pretty good idea as to what she was thinking.

"I guess that I can. In a time like this, with the MCA on the hunt for mutants I don't see how they could refuse to take you in," Caleb deliberately made it sound like he was talking about the X-Men just to see if she would confirm his suspicions about her.

"Well I only want to go to see Mindflare. I want to look in the eyes of my family's killer. I want him to see me so that I can tell him what he's done…not just to me but to everyone," she said through bared teeth.

"I don't think that it would do any good, Lin. He's a sociopath, no concept of right or wrong but only lives to fulfill his own murderous desires. You won't make him feel guilty," Caleb warned.

"Even still, it would appease my mind to put a face behind my agony so I know who to take it out on," she said softly.

"Take it out on?"

"You guys are going to punish him, right? He should be executed for what he did!" the tears, this time of rage, began to flow.

"Killing him won't undo what he did. It doesn't solve the problem," Caleb assured.

"He deserves it! Think of the countless people who died because of his actions. He has to pay," she slammed her hand against the ground. Caleb decided that there was no since in arguing with her. Personally he did not support capital punishment. Though he had wished it upon himself when he beat himself up with guilt over the earthquake. He believed it to be barbaric and uncivilized. To kill a killer was simply more killing. Negotiation if possible, and peace, as Beast had taught him were much better alternatives to violence. There was a time for everything under the sun, however. Caleb would fight if he had to, in a heartbeat.

"Where's Nathan?" Caleb asked, hoping he was well, not just for her sake but for his as well. When Caleb was still in normal society, he and Nathan were pretty good friends. Nathan and Lindsey were dating, last he'd heard. Caleb always respected him simply for the fact that he was openly unashamed about his mutation. He was a class-2 heightened speed/strength mutant.

"He's good. He wasn't at church when all of this happened. He attacked and killed some police officers though. He's hiding out at my house right now because he knows that the MCA will be looking for him. He needs to know all of what you told me because he's feeling bad about it," she looked hopefully to Caleb, as if he held the keys to unleash her soul from hell.

"What about his job, his family?" Caleb asked. He'd have to leave it all behind if he came to the mansion.

"None of that matters now. He can't go home, and he can't go to work. He's a wanted man now…just like all mutants," she pointed out. It suddenly occurred to him that he didn't know that Lindsey was a mutant until that day. She had never said anything about it the short months they'd been associated with each other in the youth group. She was probably trying to keep it a secret, as he was. He didn't even know what she could do.

"Lindsey, what is your mutation?" she looked at him with a puzzled. "What can you do?"

"Oh, yeah! Um…I don't know…it's really hard to explain. It's dark enough now that I can just show you," at last she gave a little grin.

"What do you mean, 'dark enough'?"

"You'll see." She closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Suddenly a dark figure, like a spirit or ghost began to rise from her body. As he began to look he saw that it was semi-transparent, although clearly visible. It took a silhouette and at last, details that were identical to Lindsey. The figure stood up and stepped forward. Lindsey stood up too. They both looked at the figure as it moved.

"It's really strange, I can't _see_ what it sees, but I can. It's almost like a sixth sense or something. I can make it do things," she explained, pushing hair away from her glassy blue eyes. As she spoke the figure jumped, twirled around, smiled and did various other things.

"Wow. That's not like anything I've ever seen."

"That's not all." Another spectre emerged from her body, identical to the last one. They began to do different things, including rising up off of the ground, floating weightlessly in the air. Caleb reached out to touch one.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Any contact that anyone has with them is not pleasant. I'm completely immune but it will hurt anyone else."

"How bad?"

"It's not enough to kill them."

"Do it on me," Caleb said with a grin. "Come on, I'm pretty tough…do it softly."

The spectre suddenly dove towards Caleb with unnatural speed and slammed into him. The spectre disappeared into thin air and he felt as if he'd been punched in the gut where it hit. It wasn't as hard as if Lindsey herself were to actually come and punch him but it still hurt. There was something worse. It caused him to feel other things, nausea, confusion, dizziness and—fear. Yes they invoked fear when they touched him. It wasn't overwhelming in any of the side effects but he guessed if a bunch of these things were to hit him, he might not die from the beating but the other effects would be unbearable.

"See?"

"Whoa. That's really strange. I met a lot of mutants at the institute and they all have some crazy-weird powers but I've never seen or heard of anything like this before."

"There's more," she said.

"More?" when he turned to look at her, she'd been replaced by another spectre. They all began to speak with a raspy, dark version of Lindsey's voice but only one was looking him in the eye.

"I can transform my body to be like theirs, I'm stronger than they are and won't poof away if I touch you. You still don't want that to happen when I'm like this, by the way," she explained. She was smiling. Caleb knew the feeling. Being able to share your mutant abilities with someone who wasn't going to judge you was as rewarding as being accepted for who you were in any other situation. It was rare and felt nice when you were able to do it.

"You have a great gift," he said.

"Oh, I'm not finished yet," this time he almost heard a glimpse of the old Lindsey he knew before as all three spectres, turned to face him. Two stepped towards her and they fused back into her again and she became whole. Suddenly, it seemed as if she went invisible.

_Wow…what _can't _she do_?

"Over here!" she said. He whirled behind him and thought he saw the lights flicker. There was no one. He felt a tap on his shoulder that sent chills down his spine. "Too slow!"

Finally she stopped and moved from one spot to the next before his eyes. He had to watch for a while at first, because she moved so fast.

"As long as I'm in the dark and I can see where I'm going, I'm quick as lightning," she said, coming back into her regular form and stepping towards him.

"You've got skills, I'm not gonna lie," Caleb admitted hoping he could get her to laugh by his choice of words and tone. She cracked a small smile but it looked as if her misery came raining down on her and she remembered them all over again.

Caleb looked over at the grand piano on the left corner of the stage. He had to. It was almost like a rule: if there is a piano within his reach he had to play it. He figured that Lindsey could sing along if she wanted. He smiled and pointed to it.

"Do you mind?"

"No, go ahead. I'd love to hear you play," she said. She didn't sound very convincing but he knew that he couldn't ask for much more from her. He moved across the altar, onto the stage and to the big, black grand. He sat himself down, pulling the bench closer for comfort and ease. From where he was sitting, he had a clear view out of the sanctuary, into the foyer and out to the parking lot. To his horror, there were MCA cars pulling up in the parking lot. The yellow and white lights atop their vehicles were blaring. Several men were getting out, guns drawn.

"Lindsey! We have to get outta here!"

"What?"

"NOW! The MCA are in the parking lot!"

Her face turned from sorrow to concern and fear. She ran by his side and looked out the glass doors to confirm his warning.

"Where's you car?" he asked. He had not remembered seeing it in the parking lot when he and Markas had pulled up.

"It's around the back, in the field. I parked there so no one would know it was there," she replied.

_Smart girl_.

"Okay let's go out the exit here, get in it and go," conveniently, as if God himself had ordained it, there was an exit, just feet away from them. If they hurried they could slip out, get to the car and away before the MCA ever got in. They opened the exit and jumped out.

"Hold it right there!" there was an MCA agent, dressed head-to-toe in combat gear. He had a pistol poised in his hands aimed at Lindsey, since she had jumped out first. Caleb didn't hesitate, even for a second. Since, he thought, that the instinctive thing to do is to put my hands up, he would. When his palms were parallel with the agent he unleashed a medium-sized _boom_. The man was uprooted from his position and went airborne. From the distance he and Caleb had been, he could very well have a few broken bones when he woke up in the morning.

"That intense," Caleb looked at Lindsey—now she had her demonstration. He grabbed her arm and continued around the back. "Let's go."

They treaded through the uncut grass and found her little blue car. Caleb took one look at it and laughed. It was a little 4-banger and would not outrun the MCA by a long shot. They needed to get to the road as silently as they did quickly. It looked fairly new, so Caleb had a feeling that it wouldn't give them much trouble as far as noise.

Without thinking, he grabbed for the passenger side door.

"Wait, don't…" Lindsey tried to warn him but he'd already lifted the handle. The alarm and horn began to sound. She quelled it as quickly as possible with her remote but it was too late. The MCA would be around the back of the church any second.

_So much for being quiet_.

"GO! Just go!" Caleb got in and habitually put his seat belt on. Lindsey started the car, put it in gear and took off slower than Caleb thought prudent, considering the situation. "What's the delay? GO!" he turned around to see an armored jeep coming around the corner. They were already on their tails.

"If I go too fast the tires will get stuck in the dirt!" she protested. There was a twinge of fear and panic in her voice. It was a struggle for Caleb to remain calm too. He was as new to this fugitive on the run business as she was. Before long they were on the road speeding away. The only part about that were the armored cars coming out onto the road behind them. Lindsey was already going ninety and could accelerate much faster than they could but it wouldn't be too long before they caught up to her.

"Okay as soon as you go over the hill, turn right and take the back way," he suggested.

"Why?" she was too upset to think.

"We cannot outrun them in this. You're probably at top speed," Caleb said. The sound of the engine giving its purr of a roar confirmed his fears. Even his suggestion wasn't going to work. He glanced back one more time to see that the jeeps were already in view. There were three of them.

"Okay, whatever happens I want you to try to stay calm, okay?" he tried to sound soothing but he was afraid that his own fear was hanging out a little bit. He had no plan whatsoever as to what to do about the MCA. He wasn't about to get caught, that much was for sure.

Suddenly the sound of a fully automatic weapon sounded in the night. They could hear the bullets smashing into the back of Lindsey's car. It didn't sound anything like it did from the chase scenes they'd seen in movies but it was easy enough to figure out what was happening. She screamed.

"They're shooting at us! They're gonna kill us! They're gonna kill us! I'm pulling over!" she started to brake and veer to the right. Caleb became livid.

"NO! Keep driving!" she released the brake and screamed again as some bullets came through the back windshield and shattered the front windshield. Caleb had to think of something fast. The bullets had stopped for just a second, he guessed, for the man to reload. The idea came to him in a flash. He unbuckled himself and climbed into the back seat.

"Lindsey, how do you feel about convertibles?"

"WHAT?" she asked. He smiled and put his hands on the roof of the car and the back windshield. He let out dual _booms_. To his satisfaction, the roof and back windshield disappeared. The warm summer air began to flow freely into the car.

"MY CAR!" she screamed from the front seat. Caleb felt bad, but only for a second. He stood up and faced their attacker. Surprised by his willingness to retaliate, he aimed and concentrated for the few seconds it took him to gather his strength and sense. Aiming for the grill of the jeep he released another _boom_, as powerful as he could muster. The jeep crunched up like a tin can and then began to flip and bounce in complete circles.

The other two came around the wreckage, each with a man coming through the roof with a gun. They pulled alongside each other and came speeding towards them. The bullets sounded through the night. Caleb sent off another _boom_ out of reflex but it was only powerful enough to dent their hood a little. Suddenly, horrible pain stung his right arm. He dropped into the back seat. Lindsey was already as low as she could be. The bullets riddled through the car, going through the seats and into the dash, destroying the CD player. The front windshield shattered some more. None of that was even as minutely important as the fact that he'd been _shot_. He looked at arm, expecting to find it blown off. To his dismay, the bullet had only grazed him. He wiped some of the blood away to discover that it was no more than a bad scratch.

"You're bleeding!" Lindsey sounded again.

"I'm great, keep driving," Caleb could've kicked himself, first for being so scared over a _scratch_, and second for realizing that the only way conversation was possible was that they shooting had stopped. He was already gathering more energy to perform another _boom_. Stood up again and blasted the jeep directly behind them. He aimed a little to the left but still liked the results of his _boom_. The right side of the jeep caved in, the glass shattering. It spun around ninety degrees, tipped and began to roll.

Suddenly, he was thrown backward so hard into her passenger seat, he felt bolts and springs breaking loose. She was stopping! What was she thinking? He whirled around to find the source of her idiocy. The other jeep had pulled ahead of them, in front of them, and was trying to force Lindsey to stop. Caleb heard the tumbling of the jeep behind them getting louder.

_NO!_

In a flash the jeep would be on them, rolling and rolling until it collided with them. It bounced in the air and was upon them. From his position he gave off a powerful _boom_ and the jeep suddenly bounced away from them and to the side of the road. The car swerved and bumped violently. She crossed a median to avoid collision with the other jeep. She was now on the wrong side of the road, cars were barreling past her and honking angrily.

He turned around looked in horror. Once again, unlike the movies, there was nothing exciting about this chase. Being on the wrong side of the road, going as fast as she was was the scariest thing Caleb had ever experienced. His stomach was no longer where it should be and his blood ran cold.

"_What are you doing_?" now it was his turn to panic. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel. She looked as if she had found a new source of determination and calm. Clearly, she had stolen all of Caleb's as he was ready to curl into a fetal position on the floorboard.

"Hold on!" she said suddenly swerving as they crossed through an intersection, cars crossing before them. Caleb swore, something he wasn't accustomed to, and dropped into the seat. He began to pray silently for his live as he heard squealing tires. Soon they were simply going straight and steady again.

_Thank you, Jesus_, he finished his prayer and sat up. He figured that her little maneuver had lost their pursuers but no such luck. They had turned on their sirens and cars had let them cross through the intersection unscathed.

_Bummer_, Caleb understated. There were no cars between them and the jeep so he unleashed a _boom_. The jeep swerved a little bit but continued hard on their heels. He unleashed another with the same results. Angered, he made quick alternating bursts from his hands, eight in a row, more than he'd ever tried before. Still, no luck against the jeep. The realization and fatigue hit him all at once and way too late. He dropped in the seat again, this time from exhaustion. Sweat poured from his brow, despite the wind, his breathing and heart rate far above normal. His power worked much better close up. Unless he charged up and deliberately focused a _boom_, it would do less and less damage, the further he was away. He was too tired to muster another _boom_ now.

_Stupid_!

The bullets began to enter the car again, and Lindsey was screaming. His head pounded and he choked back bile from overexerting himself so badly.

"Caleb! Do something! Caleb I can't control the car! CALEB!" she wailed. He could barely move, let alone perform another attack under such pressure. He felt a tremendous bump from underneath as their own car began to twirl in the air. Caleb braced himself and tried to stay in the car, but he was soon sailing through the air and towards a grassy hill to the side of the road.

He hit the ground and was vaulted into the air again, _boom_ had sounded involuntarily. He hit the ground with the same results. He landed much more softly than he could've hoped. He was not unconscious by any means but he was unable to move at all. He turned his head and threw up. Gummy tears trickled down his cheek as he heard the car crash.

He began to crawl, pulling himself towards the wreckage, he was moving too slowly to help her, he knew. Soon he gave up, and just lay there, defeated by his own mutation. He gritted his teeth and wished all over again that he'd never been born a mutant. He could hear voices at the top of the hill.

"—Hold it right there!"

"—Don't move!"

"—Mutants have been identified as M-117k, Lindsey Basden, and M-121r, Caleb O'Fallon."

Then he heard automatic weapons'fire. He winced. He couldn't see her but he knew that they'd shot her. He was unable to save her. He'd failed to redeem himself again, like so many times before.

_Lindsey…I'm sorry_.

He heaved heavily and passed out.


	15. Race to Safety

Still in the light of dusk, Markas grimaced at the sight of his home. It had caught fire and there were bullet holes riddled through the whole house. It looked like a war zone. When he stepped inside he saw chalk outlines in the living room. They were unmistakably silhouettes of his mom and her boyfriend. There were also bloodstains on the walls, floor and furniture. He choked back tears and went into his sister's room. There was nothing and no one. He checked every room in the house, expecting to find on more outline of his older sister, found nothing.

_She's alive_.

He searched through the house and found some different things he wanted to keep as souvenirs. They were things that belonged to his mom. He didn't care about her boyfriend; they hated each other anyway. Markas was forcing himself not to grieve at that moment. He couldn't stop the tears, but he would wait until later to break down. He still had to find out about his sister. He'd called his dad earlier at the mansion. Though his parents were divorced his dad pleaded with Markas to check on his mother. It worked out for the best, because it was much further from New York to Florida than from New York to Illinois.

He and Caleb had decided that they would make all of their trips as in-and-out as possible. Markas stepped outside and made his way to the car, not looking up. He watched the gravel crunch underfoot as he walked. When he did look up, he saw that two MCA agents had pulled up behind him, blocking his way out. He dropped the knick-knacks to the ground in surprise. The ceramic Precious Moments that he'd bought his mom for Mother's Day shattered into pieces.

"FREEZE! Don't move!" Markas did as he was told. There were two guns aimed at his head. The slightest move would make them shoot, he knew. While one kept his gun trained at Markas, the other pulled out a handheld machine. He aimed it at Markas's face and pulled the trigger. Expecting to breath his last Markas twitched a little. Then, he squinted his eyes as a bright light came out of the end of the machine.

"Keep em open!" the agent barked.

Markas did as he was told, despite the discomfort and suddenly the machine beeped. Then it began to speak.

"Mutant identified as M-312s, Markas Bast. Mutation: telekinesis, the ability to move objects by means of thought alone. Danger level: 4," the voice stopped and the agent put the machine away. He took out a pair of handcuffs and a blindfold.

"We can do this the easy way, or the real easy way," the agent gloated. He held up the cuffs and blindfold then shot a look back at the other agent with a gun. Markas eyed the blindfold.

_They've been doing their homework_, he thought in almost-admiration.

Telekinesis would still work if he was blindfolded, but with only the fraction of the effectiveness if he could see what he was doing. He had faith in his power as a telekine, but he couldn't stop bullets. He held his hands in the air and allowed the agent to cuff and blindfold him. They led him to their car and closed the door behind him. He was locked in and blindfolded, the situation looked hopeless, but Markas was completely confident that soon, he'd be in the driver's seat of their car and they'd be dead or worse. What was better was he was even going to have the agents hand him the keys.

A smile crept across his face.

_Silly Homo sapiens_…

* * *

"Why'd you do it?" Jean asked through the intercom. Behind the bulletproof glass was a small cell. Gambit was inside. There was radiation from a machine shining down on him night and day. That radiation made any mutant's power dormant so long as they were in direct focus of the beam. If the machine was shut off or they were away from it for even a second, their powers would return. Mindflare was down the hall in an identical cell.

"I told you why: he made me an offer that I could not refuse," the Cajun said with a smile.

"That doesn't sound like the Gambit I know. A former thief and scoundrel yes, but a good man. You're sure that he wasn't messing with your mind? He is psychic you know," she asked.

"Of course I'm sure! How do I know you haven't been the one messing with my head all along?"

"Why would I do that, Remy?"

"Because you couldn't stand to lose one of your precious X-Men, that's why!" the Cajun muttered French curses under his breath, grabbed his crotch and spat.

_Lovely._

"Those don't even sound like your words, Remy! That sounds like something Mindflare has twisted in your mind! Surely you see that! You've been used…a pawn, a victim to carry out his plan," she gave him truth on a silver platter. Gambit would never betray the X-Men…especially to the Brotherhood…especially to _Mindflare_—unless he'd done it all against his will. Mindflare was certainly capable of making non-psychic minds believe whatever he wanted them too. Given enough time, he could make them believe any number of lies he wanted. He could implant fake memories into his victim and make them believe they were real.

Jean realized that she'd have to go through the same mess that she had with Rogue, who was put under constant sedation until they could free her. She'd have to go into Gambit's mind separating the real memories from the fake ones.

_If they are fake…_

She scolded herself inwardly for indulging the idea for even a moment. She was going to give Gambit the benefit of the doubt—unless he proved himself guilty. She'd have no trouble sorting through what really happened and what Mindflare had planted. Psychics left a sort of signature or fingerprints on their work. She'd be able to tell right away or not.

"Maybe…maybe not. You'll never know. Take my word for it; I have no interest in rejoining the ranks. You'll never know one way or the other," he sneered. She pushed a button that released a gas in the chamber that would knock him out.

"Oh yes I will," Jean replied, determined to find the truth.

* * *

Lindsey held her hands up in the air. She'd climbed out of the overturned car, her neck and back throbbing. Her head was also bleeding from hitting the steering wheel or something. Her hands had small cuts from where she had to press them down on the glass on the ground.

The two remaining MCA agents had their guns trained on her, ready to fire if she so much as breathed in a way that threatened them. While one kept his gun trained on her, the other holstered his handgun and produced a pair of handcuffs. He came towards Lindsey. She had to escape. She'd heard all kinds of horror stories of what the MCA did to its mutant prisoners. Words like _concentration camp_ and _medical experiments_ began to float through her mind. She couldn't be taken in; she had a date with killer. She saw a path and pondered it as the agent approached. It would mean killing both of the MCA agents. She'd never taken another life—of her own accord.

_Come on, Lindsey, you can do it_.

Caleb had had no problem using his power against them. And what a power! Every time he let out a shockwave she could feel the concussion from it. He had been thrown from the vehicle, she could see down the hill, his body lie broken and bloodied. He was probably dead. That only fueled her anger. She made an oath between herself and God that she would never again let another person die in vain.

She felt her whole body change as she transformed. Suddenly, night became as day to her, seeing perfectly where a normal person's vision would be hindered. Like dark lightning she moved, faster than any bullet could travel. She heard gunshots go off and bullets sail harmlessly past her. She ran to the agent with the gun, faster than his eyes could process movement. She dealt him a horrible blow to the head with her fist, riddling him with pain and fear. He was holding an automatic weapon and his handgun was too, holstered. She grabbed it and changed back to normal.

Carefully aiming the gun at the other agent's middle she pulled the trigger three times. The other agent spun around to retaliate but she fired on him too. Soon both of them lay dead on the pavement. The lights from the sirens were still swirling. She dropped the gun on the ground and ran to confirm her fears of Caleb's death.

* * *

Markas couldn't see anything. The blindfold was tightened securely. The machine they'd scanned him with had revealed nothing about his telepathy and they'd provided no defense for such a power. He reached quickly into the psyche of the agent in the passenger seat. Attaching himself first to the part of his brain that received his senses. Soon he was seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling everything the agent did. Carefully, began weaving his way into the part of the man's brain that controlled his voluntary motor skills. The man, Al was his name, began to resist. Even the weakest minds had defenses against being controlled.

_They are no match for Hypno_, Markas thought.

"Are you okay?" the agent asked, looking at the man with genuine concern. Before the agent could respond, Markas had gained complete control of him.

"Yeah, I just uh…" Markas said, faking a cough through him. The man was his puppet. "Ugh…"

"You okay?" the driving agent asked again. "You don't look so good."

"Pull over…I think I need to throw up," Markas said through him. The man screamed inside his own head, trying to warn his friend of Markas's plan. When their minds were connected, Al would be able to sense what Markas was trying to do. There was nothing that he could do to stop him however.

To his satisfaction, the other agent pulled over to the shoulder and turned his hazards on. Markas made Al stumble outside, holding his gut, dry heaving. Also, just as he'd planned the other agent, Cody, Markas discovered searching Al's memories came to Al's aid. They were friends. Markas reached meticulously for the stun gun that was on his hip. When he felt a hand on his shoulder he spun, igniting the sparks and put it into Cody's neck. He held it their as Cody convulsed, spit dribbling from his chin. He used Al's arm to pop Cody on the top of the head with his free hand. Cody plummeted to the ground, coughing, vomiting and completely unable to move. Without wasting time, Markas had Al open the back door of the car.

Markas could see himself, bound and blindfolded, through Al's eyes. Markas stepped outside and stood up, using Al's vision to guide him. He turned around and allowed Al to unlock his handcuffs. Markas used his free hands to tug the blindfold loose, still keeping Al in his grasp. Markas loosed his mind of Al's vision and returned to his own.

"Go to sleep," Markas said using his power to knock Al unconscious. He let loose of his mind as he dropped to the ground like rag doll, completely docile. He did the same to Cody, who just suddenly was still, since he was already on the ground. Markas picked up both bodies simultaneously with his telekinesis and hurled them into the woods beside the road, sure that they wouldn't wake up.

He heard the radio crackle.

"—two mutants discovered, now in pursuit on the Beltline. Mutants are attempting to run. They've been identified as Lindsey Basden and Caleb O'Fallon. Requesting all nearby units for assistance." The first name tickled Markas's ears; he'd heard it before. The second was unmistakable.

_Caleb's in trouble_!

He rushed to the MCA car, took off the hazards, put it in gear and sped away. He'd grown up in the area and knew right where he was, despite traveling for a few minutes, blindfolded. He was only minutes away from the Beltline and could get there even faster with the sirens and lights from the MCA car. He floored the accelerator and turned on the sirens.

* * *

The phone call again proceeded to Nathan's voicemail after a few rings. Lindsey wanted to hurl the phone against the building closest to her. She restrained and looked down at Caleb. He was alive but she couldn't wake him up for anything. Caleb was a big guy and she was tiny. Her eyes traced the distance up the hill and to the armored jeep. It was a long way but they needed to keep moving. Nathan was probably in danger or on his way there. If they'd known where to find Lindsey there was no reason to think that they wouldn't be able to find him too.

_No…_

They'd probably already been to her house. They would've looked there first. It was already too late. No wonder she couldn't get a hold of him. He was probably already dead or in custody.

_No._

She refused to believe it unless she knew for sure. She gathered her senses and determination. She clasped her hands around Caleb's wrists and began to pull with all her weight and might. She'd only moved him a few feet before she gasped and needed a rest. He was even heavier than he looked. She bent down and took him under the arms, which was wet with sweat.

_Gross._

She made a face but lifted him up a little and tugged him again. She moved him a little further up the hill and stopped, once again needed a rest. Sweat had already begun to collect on her brown.

_I have to keep going!_

She grabbed his wrists again and continued to tug, moving him inch by inch. It sent pain through her strained back and neck but nothing mattered at that moment. She could only hope she could get him up and into the jeep once she got him over the hill. It was not likely in the least. She couldn't leave him though, he was still alive.

_God, help me_, she prayed silently searching for strength.

* * *

Markas pulled up to discover a small red head dragging his cousin over the pavement. Her intention was clear, she was going to put him in the jeep. He crossed over the median to the other side of the road, put it in park and got out. Before he could say anything, the red head, who looked very familiar, disappeared. In flash, he felt icy fingers wrap around his throat. It hurt badly, more so than if someone was actually choking him. He felt his emotions begin to stir. He felt as if he were in a nightmare. His vision began to whirl as he felt fear come over him. He could see the faint silhouette of a woman, the red head, before him.

Growing weary of the attack Markas used telekinesis to knock her off of him. Her shadow stretched like putty, but she remained unmoved. He tried it again to no avail. Her grasp was too strong around his neck for him to speak so he reached out with his mind.

_Lindsey_, he said, remembering her name. _It's me Markas. Do you remember me? I'm Caleb's cousin. Let go! I'm here to help_!

The shadowy spectre turned into a normal young woman and she released her grasp.

"I'm sorry! I thought you were MCA!"

"That's fine," Markas rasped. "We gotta get outta here!" He followed her over to Caleb, who was still lying uselessly unconscious. Markas decided he would tease him about it after they got out of this mess. Cyclops was going to mad when he heard about all of this. The thought made Markas worry. Still, he had to focus at the task at hand. She reached down to take his arms again. He was about to tell her not to bother when a voice sounded behind them.

"FREEZE! Put your hands up and turn around slowly!" Markas could hear the agent chamber a round in the pistol. "Do it now!" He and Lindsey obeyed. There was another car, and to his satisfaction, only one. Markas couldn't use his hands for focus but his eye caught a jagged piece of blue metal on the ground, probably from Lindsey's wrecked car.

He reached out with his power and saw it twitch on the ground. The agent was too preoccupied with keeping the gun pointed at Lindsey to notice. When Markas was sure that he had a grasp on the metal shard, he flung it from the ground and into the man's neck, aiming for his jugular vein. The metal soundlessly pierced the man's flesh and blood spurted out of his neck.

He stiffened and the gun went off. Lindsey held her right side and fell to the ground. She'd been hit.

"Hey!" the other agent said stepping forward. Markas used his power to launch him into a car. He saw a diesel truck barreling down the other side of the highway. Markas launched the man in front of the truck and turned his head so he didn't have to watch. He heard the sound well enough. Lindsey was screaming loudly, howling in pain. Markas sympathized…being shot was probably painful.

"How bad is it?" Markas asked. She looked as if she were trying to gather herself.

"Not as bad as it could've been. I think it bounced off my ribs! Can we get outta here?" she pleaded. Markas was more than happy to oblige. He helped her to her feet.

"Let's take the car," he said, he didn't know the status of the armored jeep but he knew the car had a full tank of gas. She didn't argue but made her way to the passenger side. Markas picked Caleb up with his power and brought him around to the back seat. He laid him down flat in the back and shut the door.

Markas climbed into the driver's side and they sped away, heading for the highway that would take them to New York.

"I have to go by my house," she winced, as if it hurt to talk.

"Unless you're bleeding to death we're not stopping. From the looks of it, you'll be fine until we can get you to the mansion," he objected.

"My boyfriend's there! He could be in trouble!"

"I'm not risking all three of us for him. I can pull over right now and let you out if you have to go. Otherwise, enjoy the ride," he tried to sound as firm as possible so she would pick one or the other.

"The MCA have probably been to my house looking for me," she admitted. "He's not answering his cell phone and I haven't heard from him in a while. I can't just leave, not knowing if he's okay," she pleaded again.

"I'm assuming he's a mutant because the MCA is after you?"

"Yes."

"Okay, here's what you can do. It's too dangerous to go to your house but leave him a message and tell him to call you. Even if he doesn't get the message he will eventually call you, I'm sure. When he does, you can bring him to the Institute. That's the best we can do," Markas finished, hoping she'd take the best and not go hysterical. She looked content enough, considering the circumstances. She called and began to leave a message.

Once Caleb woke up, which would be hours from what Markas could tell, they would begin alternating on driving. They'd only been in town for a few hours and they already had to leave. Even so, they'd be a little late getting back to New York. Cyclops would be mad for that as well. Markas couldn't bring himself to care at that point. He was happy that he and Caleb had made it out alive. They even managed to rescue another mutant from the MCA in the process. They'd faired pretty well by themselves, Markas thought.

No way of putting it would make Cyclops any less mad. They were in for it, Markas knew. He got on the highway and started doing a hundred. Most of the cops were busy trying to catch fugitive mutants, like Markas. They were doing it in the cities and not on the highways, so that gave him the liberty to speed, he hoped. The night went by slowly as they drove, in complete silence.

Lindsey didn't say anything and Markas wasn't much of a talker either. She had nodded off into sleep and Caleb was still passed out. He couldn't imagine this tiny young woman dragging around a beast like Caleb. He felt sorry for her. Markas was a man and he wouldn't want to drag Caleb up a hill. He silently applauded her for it. If they went straight through, they'd be in New York in a day or so. Markas finally began to relax as he crossed the Indiana state line.

* * *

Jean sighed with relief. When she'd searched Gambit's mind and memory, she'd discovered that Mindflare had done some serious tampering with it. She saw that Gambit had fought like crazy before Exus had pricked him with one of her paralyzing barbs. Mindflare had gone to town on his mind, changing and rearranging thoughts and feelings. It was like a Tetris game gone horribly wrong. After a few hours, Jean was able to put everything back to normal.

She'd had Beast carry Gambit up to his room and put him on his bed. He'd be himself again once he woke up. She couldn't say the same about Rogue. She'd worked night and day on her and still had not received acceptable results. The two minds were separated but they were both fighting for dominance. Rogue was not a psychic and her mind could not retain more than one. The two persons would have to fight each other until one perished. Jean kept Rogue in a vegetative state so that they didn't see the outward and fiery results of that battle.

There was one way that Jean could help her…but she almost didn't even consider the thought. She could take Rogue to the Astral Plane. There, the battle between her and Pyro would be portrayed quite differently. Jean and other psychics could go to the Astral Plane and help Rogue face her demons. The only other psychic around was Mindflare. That option was out for obvious reasons. She'd have to wait until Markas returned. Even though he'd never been to the Astral Plane, he'd have to go with her for support. No psychic would dare go alone for fear of being trapped.

Until then, she could only hope that the Rogue's mind would be enough to fight away Pyro's. She had faith in Rogue but she'd grow weary and give in before too long. Iceman had taken it pretty hard when she explained the whole thing to him. Jean couldn't blame him. He was at her side, even now. Rogue had a real treasure in Robert Drake; that much was for sure.

Jean stood up, she would see what she could do for now, to help her. She could only hope that Markas got back quickly, in one piece, and more importantly, prepared to enter the shadowy realm of the Astral Plane.


	16. Leviticus

"We have a situation," Cyclops addressed the senior X-Men. "We have received intel that says that both Shadowcat and Nightcrawler have been apprehended and imprisoned by the MCA. They are being held in a desert compound outside of Phoenix, Arizona." He passed a stack of files to the left and to the right.

_Our team keeps getting smaller and smaller,_ he thought to himself. An imaginary glimmer of hope burned in his mind. He had just graduated eight new students to be full-fledged X-Men. They still needed a _lot_ of training and they would only be allowed to go on the safer side of the missions. He'd allowed Lifestream to accompany him and Iceman to retrieve Rogue but that was only because he was sure that they would be successful and her _touch_ was needed.

"Where did this information come from?" Storm asked, looking over her file.

"You remember Palisade's older brother? He used to come here and visit him from time to time?" Cyclops offered.

"The technopath?"

"Adam," Jubilee remembered.

"Yes, Adam. Since Mindflare's stunt with Cerebro, he's put mutantkind in quite a pickle. They are being captured and killed all over the world at an exponential rate. He's not a known mutant and his power has been easy to hide until now."

"Until now?" Beast echoed with a puzzled look on his face.

"He writes software for a very prestigious company. His power is easy to hide but apparently, while under Mindflare's influence, he nearly caused a nuclear meltdown by disrupting the generators at one of the plants. Though he wasn't found out to be a mutant yet, his company has issued that every employee be checked for the X-gene."

"I see. He has no place to go. If he's discovered, the MCA will imprison him—if he runs on his own, they'll hunt him down and kill him," Remy deduced.

That's why he gave you the intel isn't it? He needs our help," Storm concluded.

"Yes. The check doesn't happen until this Friday afternoon, so we have plenty of time to go get him," Cyclops replied.

What about Kurt and Kitty?" Beast asked. No doubt he was worried for their sake and the urgency of the situation.

"Of course we're going to get them," Storm chimed.

"That brings me to the second part of this briefing. We can't just go and bail them out of an MCA maximum-security prison. It needs to be quick, quiet, and with the utmost stealth," Cyclops explained.

"Shadowcat and Nightcrawler are our greatest steal team," Jubilee began to realize the situation, Cyclops observed.

"The only way to get into and out of that place with _everyone_ in one piece is through Adam," Cyclops knew he'd have to say it sooner or later. Now he was bombarded with expressions that said, "we demand an explanation."

"—Adam?"

"—Why?"

"He's the only technopath available to us who knows the system well enough to bypass the security," Cyclops replied.

"How would he know how to do that?" Storm asked, though she appeared to get the gist of the scenario.

"Because he wrote the programs that run the security protocols for all of the MCA prisons," Cyclops didn't like having to give that particular part of the story because he knew that it would be met with some hostility and resentment.

"What?" Gambit interjected.

"You mean he's using his power to help keep other mutants locked away?"

"How could he do that? How does he call himself a mutant?" Storm hit her fist on the table. Beast rested a furry arm on hers to comfort and calm her.

"It's not like that—he designs the software for the _company_ and they sell it to the highest bidder. In this case it happens to be the MCA," Cyclops retorted.

"He didn't send us the information on how to infiltrate the prison?" Jubilee asked. Cyclops sighed heavily and felt his forehead crinkle at his brow.

"No. He said that as soon as he's safe, he'll fill us in on everything that we need to know."

"That's a little manipulative, don't you think?" Storm demanded.

"He's doing what he has to ensure self-perseverance—no more than nature working its way," Beast said with a dry smile.

"If you think that I buy for one second that he's unknowing as to where his technology goes when his company sells it, you're wrong. He knows good and well and he's willing to make a penny at the expense of others. I don't know if he's someone that we can trust," Storm crossed her arms indignantly, squaring her gaze at Cyclops.

"You're right. _He's_ the one who told me that he knew where it went. I know, I don't agree with his actions either, Storm," Cyclops sympathized.

"That still leaves us with no choice but to help him, though," Gambit blurted suddenly. He wasn't talking as much as he usually did. He hadn't been completely himself since the attack on the mansion. No one blamed him for what he'd done, especially when Jean had discovered that he'd fought like a madman when Mindflare enslaved him.

"So what's the plan?" Jubilee sounded as if she were tired of the briefing and wanted to get on with things. Cyclops was just as weary on the other side of it.

"Rogue's condition has not improved thus far, but Jean is hopeful. She is giving Hypno a briefing about the Astral Plane as we speak," Cyclops began.

"The Astral Plane? They're going to the Astral Plane?" Jubilee's mouth was agape.

"Yes, but that's not what we are here to discuss. Those are Jean's matters. Iceman refuses to leave her side so long that she is in the state that she's in. With the war approaching, it is only a matter of time before the MCA come pounding on our door. We have to have soldiers to fight a war and our soldiers must be trained. This training has to begin immediately. That rules out Beast, Storm and myself." He looked first at Gambit and then at Jubilee.

"Looks like we'll be singing a duet all the way to Phoenix, my love," Gambit winked at Jubilee. She rolled her eyes, shrugged and smiled.

"I don't think that you will have too much opposition but be careful either way. I hate to reduce you to such errands but none of the new X-Men can fly the jet—_yet_. Fly there, land at these coordinates. He lives in a fairly remote city called Wickenburg. He's supposed to be packed and ready to go by Thursday night," Cyclops finished.

"Great! It'll be like a tiny vacation—in the desert!" Jubilee spread the sarcasm on as thick as she could as she giddily clapped her hands. Gambit, obviously back to his unique demeanor, took this opportunity to slide in beside her and slip his arm around her waist.

"With just the two of us, I'm sure we could find something to do with our time…" he leaned in closer to her as he spoke. Clearly not amused by his eccentricities, she ignited one her sparks and held it close to his face in a psuedo-threatening way. She didn't even need to say anything; he got the picture.

Gambit slid away from her and she depleted her spark with a smoky _poof_.

"Okay, it's settled then. Gambit and Jubilee take off tonight at ten. With the time change you'll arrive there around eleven o'clock his time. The two of you are dismissed. Beast, Storm, we have much to discuss about the training of our soldiers," Cyclops leaned forward on the table and looked at them. They nodded as Gambit and Jubilee slipped away.

* * *

"Markas I don't think that anything that I can say to you will prepare you for what you'll experience on the Astral Plane," Jean narrowed her eyes, looking at him. It was only the day after he'd arrived back with Caleb, who was weak and injured, and Lindsey, yet another addition to the Xavier Institute. She wanted to give him time to rest and recuperate but she didn't want to have Rogue waiting that long. There was a constant control struggle between the two minds in her. If they waited too long, one would win, but if it were Pyro, he would live vicariously through her.

"What exactly is wrong with her?" he asked. She sighed. She'd tried so hard to explain her condition to countless people over the last couple of days, none of them understanding even a bit of it. She knew that Markas could grasp a little more of it because he too, was a telepath.

"To make a long story very short, Rogue absorbed Pyro's consciousness into her own, fusing the two together. I worked to pry them apart, though I was unable to force Pyro into the depths of her subconscious as I had hoped. The two of them are in a struggle to gain control of Rogue's body.

"The only way to remedy this is to take her to the Astral Plane," she drummed her fingers as she spoke.

"Okay, the Astral Plane is a place where our entire psyches take on a physical representation, so that if you are injured there, it is really your mind that is injured and what not. This is a place that only psychics can go, but you want to take Rogue there? I don't get it," Markas looked confused. The Astral Plane was somewhat of an enigma. It was not something that was easily understood, much less explained. It was something that one had to experience.

"_Because_ we are psychics we can take others there. The only problem is that bringing someone there requires you to sustain their minds so that they are not lost," Jean began to explain.

"Wait, there are _two_ minds inside of Rogue, that's our whole problem. Won't that create some complications?" Markas asked. She was impressed that he was thinking about all of the aspects of their mission.

"Yes and no. Yes there _are_ two minds inside of her but I'm positive that we can take both of them as one to the Astral Plane."

"You said that one of us would have to support her mind—what did you mean by all of that?"

"Because I have experience in this matter, I will be the one to take Rogue's mind and sustain it in the Astral Plane. That means that you will have to be the one who defeats the astral projection of Pyro's mind," Jean said wincing a little bit.

"What's that look about?"

"He's quite powerful and as long as you are intimidated by him and by your task you will not be able to beat him," Jean put her hands up.

"So then why bother, if you don't think that I can beat him? Why not teach me how to take her mind there and sustain it and let you do the fighting?" Markas suggested. If they weren't in such a hurry for Rogue's sake that's exactly what she'd do. Either way, they took a chance. They had to do something to save Rogue, leaving her like that could end up with Pyro possessing her body like some sort of fire demon. Jean couldn't live with herself if she didn't at least try.

_Charles…once again, if you were still here you'd know exactly what to do_.

"I think that you can beat him. You are going to have to fight without reserve or mercy. Remember that Pyro's body is already dead and his mind is in a place that it doesn't belong. What you're going to be fighting and killing is only an astral projection of his mind, not the real thing," Jean encouraged.

"If you die on the Astral Plane…what happens?"

"We're not going to let that happen," Jean determined. "Come on, we don't have a lot of time…and she has even less." Jean watched as Markas's eyes moved over Rogue's comatose body. He stood there for a while but then suddenly turned and looked at her. He appeared taller now, and stronger. He had the look of determination on his face.

"Okay—I'll do it."

_That a boy…

* * *

_

"Okay, soldiers—listen up!" Cyclops was now addressing the newest members into the X-Men. There they stood: Vortex, Druida, Stardust, Palisade, Lifestream, Shockwave and Chrona. Hypno was not present, but was with Jean. Cyclops had more faith in him than any of those that stood before him now. It wasn't as if he doubted their potential but Hypno was special. Only Jean could help him grow stronger than he already was.

"There is no easy way to put this," Storm began to speak. "War is coming upon us. We all knew that it was coming sooner or later, with the way things have been but we never could have prepared ourselves for this."

"Although I am a man who believes in negotiation, peace and living in harmony with one another, I also believe in taking a stand for what is right and what I believe in. All mutants are being placed under arrest and imprisonment simply for the fact that they are mutants. This bigotry and prejudice will rot our land if we allow ourselves to be subject to it," Beast continued after her.

"Whether you like it or not, you have been drafted into this war. They will come for you, capture you, kill you if they can. If you do not resist—if you do not take a stand for mutantkind, all will be lost. That is why we are going to train you. You have already undergone some of the basics. From here on out, there are no games, no leniency and no turning back. We will train you in hand-to-hand combat," Cyclops stopped so that Beast and Storm could take the next step.

"We will train you in how to use various weapons and tools that you will need to fight," Beast said.

"And most of all: we will teach you to use and develop your powers in a way that you never thought possible," Storm added.

"Everyday from this day until you are no longer under my command, you will wake up and you will work out. Your diets will change. We are going to transform your bodies so that they are ready to for battle.

"We will have daily sessions in the Danger Room so that we can gain experience of what it will really be like when the battle arrives on our front.

"You will not only learn how to defend yourselves, but you will learn now to calculate the most effective way to destroy your enemy," Cyclops felt like a drill sergeant. On a second thought, he found the idea appropriate. He was, after all, going to bring up soldiers to fight a war.

On and on Cyclops laid down the rules. He gave them the daily schedule that would include a grueling workout, harsh diet, training exercises in the Danger Room, sparring with instructors and with others. As he looked them in the eye, he realized that they were all looking back into his. The looks on their faces, though surprised by some of the details of what they would have to sacrifice, told him that they were ready for whatever it was that he had to throw at them.

He looked them over one-by-one and all he could see was potential.

* * *

Jubilee sat in the co-pilot's seat and did her part to prepare for take off. There were a few things worse than being stuck on a jet with Gambit for a few hours, but at that moment, nothing was coming to mind.

"I see that you're letting me take the pilot's seat. You know, I think that means that subconsciously you have a submissive personality. Whether you want to admit it or not, you've been waiting for me to come in and take you for your whole life," he had already started. They didn't even have the engines running yet.

_This is going to be a long ride_, she thought to herself.

"Oh you know it, Gambit. I've been waiting for a rude, forward, pushy Cajun just like you to come and sweep me off my feet. Yeah…you've got my number," Jubilee had thought about simply remaining silent when we went into little tangents but she couldn't resist being mean to him…the opportunity just seemed to present itself again and again.

"Why you gotta be like dat now? You're breakin Gambit's heart," he said with mock misery.

"You know, speaking about yourself in the third person isn't exactly the best way to win a girl over. It's actually quite unattractive," she reached over to his controls and fired up the engines. She continued to go about getting ready for take-off, never looking him in the eye as he spoke.

"Oh c'mon…you think it's sexy. I tell you something, you don't play hard-to-get very well at all," he said with a sneer.

"Oh? How's that, Gambit?"

"If you want me to think that I have to work to get your affection you have to make me _believe_ that you don't want me so I'll try harder. Now I know that you can hardly wait to find yourself warm in my arms," he said with a wink.

"Really?" She rolled her eyes as she spoke.

"It's the truth," he shrugged simply.

"No, I'll give you a little bit of truth. You're a scoundrel and you're rude. You're still upset because things didn't work out with you and Rogue, she won't take you back, she's with Bobby, and none of the other single ladies around here want you. You're desperate and you'll do anything for attention—including trying to seduce someone you're not really interested in having a relationship with, or committing to. There's some truth for you," Jubilee was afraid for just a moment that she had been too harsh. He was silent for a moment and it seemed as if she had put him in his place.

"Now that's a lot better. I'm never going to leave you alone now. You really know to make a man work for it, don't you," he said interlocking his hands behind his head. "You want me."

As she flew the plane up and out she veered southwest to go to Arizona. As Gambit persisted in making one futile pass after another, Jubilee was tempted to wreck the plane nose first into the ground. She was going to give Cyclops a mouthful when she got back—that was for sure. She'd never do a mission alone with Gambit again. If she had too, she'd take tranquilizer darts with which to shoot him, she determined.

She didn't figure that things would get much better once they had retrieved Adam. He sounded as if he might be kind of a lone computer nerd. Given her current situation she'd have to give him the benefit of the doubt and remain hopeful. Otherwise she was going to throw Gambit out of the jet.

To occupy her mind she thought about Cyclops laying down the law of what it takes to be an X-Man for the 'second generation' as they'd come to be called. You will do this and you will not do that. She was the youngest member of the first generation of X-Men, just twenty-nine now. She still remembered what it was like to be in their shoes. She remembered that it was scary, the thought of a life of being trained for combat. She remembered that it was exciting to be a part of something much bigger than her. She'd remembered all of the rewarding experiences…and the heart-wrenching ones.

It had been a while since Logan had left them. She wasn't present at the time but she'd heard enough to have an image. All she could see was a cascade of ice enveloping him deep inside of a cold tomb. Jean said that she had searched for his consciousness but was unable to find it. She said that it would be futile to look for him. Jubilee objected, as did a few others but in the end they all knew it was hopeless. He had seemed so strong, so larger-than-life—immortal. His mutation had saved his life so many times before but now he faced something just as bad as death: eternal sleep.

For the rest of the trip she deliberately thought about nothing. She put the controls on autopilot and went to lie down in the back. Sleeping would pass the time.


	17. Astral Assault

The training was everything Cyclops promised it would be and worse. Immediately following his army/soldier speech he had them in the gym. From the treadmills to weights to martial arts training. They even took gymnastics for flexibility and ballet for balance. After just one day Caleb was already beginning to wonder if all of this was right for him. He'd wanted to be a _music teacher_ before all of this. Music teachers don't learn to fly jets or how to break another man's arm. After his run-in with the MCA, he knew that all hopes of a normal life had vanished.

They were taking a rest now, eating lunch. He was getting ready to sit down with Jake and Lisa when he noticed Lindsey was sitting alone. She was curled up on the couch, clutching her cell phone tightly, no doubt waiting for a phone call that would probably never come.

She had talked Cyclops into letting her train with the X-Men. He allowed her to work out and what not. She was not, however, allowed to participate in the Danger Room sessions until Jean could do an analysis of her mutation.

_She isn't missing much_, Caleb thought to himself. His team's session wouldn't commence until later in the afternoon. He would have a chance to observe others there and learn from their errors. He could be glad for that much.

"Hey, Lin! Come over here and sit with us," Caleb flashed a welcoming smile. Reluctantly, she brought her tray of food with her and sat down at the table. She just looked at Jake and Lisa with a smile, not saying anything.

"Oh! Sorry, Lindsey. This is Lisa and Jake—guys this is Lindsey," Caleb introduced them.

"Hi, you can call me Palisade," Jake said throwing Caleb a dart with his eyes. He extended his hand towards Lindsey and she accepted it with a shake and a nod.

"Lifestream," Lisa smiled shyly as she shook Lindsey's hand.

"I thought it was 'Jake' and 'Lisa'," she puzzled.

"That's my bad. I'm supposed to refer to them by their mutant identities. So technically I'm not Caleb, I'm Shockwave."

"Do all mutants have these?"

"Most do. It's just one more way about being open and expresses our mutanthood."

"What's your mutation, Lindsey?" Lisa asked.

"Oh my powers are…how shall I say…"

"Complicated?" Caleb offered.

"Difficult to explain. I'd give you a demonstration but it only works when it's dark," she picked at her salad with a fork. "Some diet, huh?" she suddenly changed the subject.

"Yeah, no joke," Caleb agreed looking at his meager portion of greens, crackers and water. They were all on the same diet now but when Jean did a nutritional check on them, they'd been promised to have one catered just to them. Caleb feared he'd eat even less than he was now, and even less of the kinds of food he liked. He had a little extra padding to lose and he knew that Cyclops would show him now mercy. He was already craving a double-cheeseburger and a chocolate milkshake. He scolded himself.

_It's only been a day you Fatkid!_

Lindsey did a lot of question answering as Jake and Lisa—Palisade and Lifestream—got to know her. Caleb was always closer to Nathan, her boyfriend than to her. He'd always liked her well enough though.

She told of what happened with her when Mindflare took control. They all had tales to tell about that. She told her perspective on the getaway from the MCA that she and Caleb had experienced. It sounded different from her, saying he'd come in and 'saved' her. He sounded like a hero until she got to the part about her dragging him up a hill. They all got a good laugh out of that one.

"Hey! Uh…where's…uh…don't tell me…Hypno?" she asked, snapping her fingers during the pauses. She had gotten to the part of the story where Markas showed up.

"He's trying to help Rogue, one of the X-Men. She's having some problems that only psychics can help," Jake replied. They recapped on the attack on the mansion and in the city. Lisa reluctantly told her story about capturing Rogue too. She was the first of the newly recruited X-Men to go on a mission.

_Lucky her._ _Now Markas is going to some place called the Astral Plane. It's supposed to be really dangerous. What a guy. I wonder how he's doing…

* * *

_

"Okay, this is all going to be a little weird," Markas watched her as her mouth moved. She'd about ten things similar to that. She was starting to worry him now. Iceman stood on one side of Rogue, Jean on the other. She placed a hand on her forehead and with her other, she held Markas's. She explained other ways that they could both 'go' to the Astral Plane but none of them were time permitting.

"Close your eyes," she whispered as he obeyed. Suddenly, his mind's eye opened and he was falling into a shadowy wormhole—or at least that's how he'd describe it. He had no idea what it was or what was happening to him.

When everything seemed to come to a standstill, he opened his eyes and gasped at his surroundings. He was in some sort of medieval, hellish dungeon. The stones that made up the whole place were a glowing, translucent white. Through the floor and the walls he could see other rooms above, around and beneath him. He'd stepped into someone's worst nightmare.

"We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto," he said to himself, backing up to take a better look. He bumped into a post from which a vase, in the same likeness of the walls and floors fell from its stand. Instead of hearing a crash, he heard what sounded like wind whispering from the floor and instead of seeing it shatter, he witnessed it wisp away in white smoke.

"Weird…" he muttered under his breath.

_Markas, can you hear me?_ Jean asked from nowhere.

_Loud and clear,_ he replied.

_Alright. I'm sending you an astral projection of where Rogue and Pyro are. Things are worse than I'd hope they'd be_. She didn't give any more information on the subject.

Suddenly his mind's eye traveled through the shadowy keep—up and down winding staircases, through long, dark corridors to a room with huge double doors. The vision ended with a projection of that room.

_Go_, Jean had a touch of panic in her voice. The situation must've been more urgent than expected. He began to run the path she'd mapped out for him but stopped when he passed a mirror. The man he saw staring back him was different. Surely, it was his reflection, but he was taller, broader-shouldered, and tanner. His face and teeth were perfect and symmetric. Every feature about him, from head to toe was flawless. He looked as if he were built like an Olympic athlete.

_What the…_he touched his face as he looked in the mirror.

_Keep moving_, she urged. _That is what is called psychic self-image. It is the way that you wish you were. Anything goes in a place like this…_she trailed off.

Markas didn't reply but only continued to run until he found the big double doors where Jean had led him.

_Be careful_, she warned, as he opened the door. The room was huge, the ceiling high. There was a ledge that went around the entire circumference of the room, creating a hollow cylinder. As Markas stepped closer to the edge he saw that at the bottom of the room, nearly 1000 feet down, was a lake of fire. The room was smoky and hot.

_Wow…I _am _in Hell_.

In the center of the room was a pillar. Sprawled out on the pillar, face down was a woman with auburn hair and a brilliant white streak in the front.

_Rogue_.

She wasn't moving. The jump from the ledge entrance to the pillar would be impossible. He'd have to fly himself over. Lifting himself with telekinetic energy, he floated his way to the pillar and ran to the center where Rogue was.

"Rogue? Rogue are you okay?" he asked, shaking her shoulders. She looked like hell. Her hair and eyebrows were singed from the heat, her face black and ashy from soot.

"Mmm…ugh…" she groggily opened her eyes. "Hypno? What are you doing here I…where am I?" she asked in her sassy southern accent.

"You're on the Astral Plane. I'm here to help you defeat Pyro's mind, he's locked into yours somehow and…"

"Pyro! Oh he's here! We have to run, now! Before he comes!" she climbed to her feet, grabbed Markas by the arm and started for the edge of the pillar before Markas could so much as protest.

There was a rhythmic _thud_ sound…like gigantic wings being flapped. They froze, despite the heat and turned to see a gigantic fire demon, or what appeared to be as such.

"It's rude to leave without at least saying 'ello," his voice sounded. He was humanoid though nearly seven feet tall. He was built like an ox and donned gigantic leathery wings on his back as he flew through the air. His skin appeared to be made of molten rock. When he landed, embers fell off of him with a glowing, orange scatter.

As he stood, closer now, Markas saw that his fists were twice as big as they should be. His face was angular, its features distinct despite the fact he looked like he'd just soaked in a pool of lava.

"What's with these people? Always sending a boy to do a man's job…" he jeered, laughing at Markas. His eyes were two glowing fires where his irises and pupils should've been. When he spoke, smoke ash and hot sulfurous air fumigated out of his mouth.

His only clothing was a loincloth fixed together by a steel belt, black with ash. He looked like a Greek god of Olympus. His voice was like peals of deep, rumbling thunder.

In a flaming flash, he vaulted towards Markas and planted his massive fist into his gut, sending him spiraling towards the edge of the pillar and down into the lake of fire to meet his doom.

* * *

Jubilee and Gambit landed the plane without too much difficulty at the exact location. They were only a few minutes early. Hopefully, Mr. Adam Wryly would be packed and ready to go. His house was a few hundred feet away from the plane; the only houses were miles away and invisible in the dark. 

"I guess we should go in and see if he needs any help," Jubilee suggested. Gambit grunted in agreement as she let down the ramp. It was a good thing that they now had two jets. The one that they used primarily now had a massive hole in it from Cyclops blasting Exus during the mansion attack. Jubilee was surprised she survived such a blow.

_Too bad…_

They descended the stairs and walked to the back of the house, where there was a light on the pack porch. The desert air was hot and dry. Even though it was nighttime, it was easily ninety degrees outside. Jubilee liked the weather instantly though she couldn't imagine living there during the daytime, when it was sunny.

The sliding glass doors where open and the sound of shuffling could be heard from the inside. Jubilee banged on the pane three times.

"Adam Wryly?" she asked.

"In here," replied a voice from inside. They took the invitation and walked in. The house was _huge_. The ceiling was higher than that of the mansion's, with staircases leading to second and third floors. Most of it was made of glass so that you could see into other rooms of the house. Most of the lights were off but she bet that it would look like a human aquarium if he were to light the house up.

There were random boxes stuffed with all kinds of computer equipment. There were monitors, TVs, DVDs and DVD players. There was a box full of comic books and other fantasy literature. Adam walked around the corner carrying one bag that must have had his clothes or other belonging in it. Everything in the house looked high-tech and futuristic, even furniture.

Adam was a tall, thin man of about twenty. He had long hair to his shoulders and a mustache and goatee on his face. He was wearing a black shirt with two Nintendo characters performing karate moves on each other. The shirt read simply, "I Know Kung Fu."

_Charming._

He also wore black jeans, black shoes with white socks—

_Wow._

And a black, pinstripe, cloth hat on his head. It was the only part of his attire that she found appealing.

"You guys can start by carrying those boxes there for me," he said pointing. "I've got to get some more equipment."

"You can't possibly want to take _all_ of this stuff…"Jubilee protested.

"There is years of priceless work on some of these hard drives. I can't just get that information again. I'm taking it with me," he put his foot down hard.

_Great…high-maintenance too…this just keeps getting better and better._

Reluctantly, Jubilee picked up one of the boxes that were not so heavy and began to carry it out to the X-Jet. She huffed and puffed as she went, realizing the distance was further than she had remembered. She couldn't believe this…she really had become an errand girl with all of this—and they were in the middle of a war! She simmered down as she set a box down in the back. It didn't take her long to remember why she was doing all of this in the first place.

Kurt and Kitty were in trouble…imprisoned. They could be on schedule to be executed…or 'quarantined' as the MCA so eloquently put it. They had to hurry and do _whatever_ it took to help them. If that meant hauling some computer geek's books from a house to a jet, so be it.

_Adam…you'd better come through for us…that's all I have to say_.

She couldn't believe how different he was from Palisade. He was like a hermit…living out in the desert with naught but his computers to keep him company. Palisade was always in the middle of the crowd—a crowd of ladies if he could help it—he was an extrovert, outgoing.

She found her thoughts moving to Rogue…she hoped that Hypno and Jean would have luck with her on the Astral Plane…

* * *

Rogue watched as Hypno sailed over the edge of the pillar and down into the fiery lake below. 

"NO!" she screamed helplessly. She was in no condition to fight…

_Where the _hell _am I_?

She had to fight this demonic incarnation of Pyro. He was holding her captive and wouldn't let her leave. When they would tussle, she discovered that he was not as strong as he was intimidating—a good thing. He was stronger than her, though. He'd wear her down every day a little more. Every time he beat her the pillar got increasingly narrower. She was not about to be imprisoned on a pillar surrounded by a lake of fire.

_Not today_.

While he had his back turned she jumped up and onto his back. With one arm she put him in a chokehold and with the other she dealt him successive blows to the back of the head. She'd tried her powers on him earlier and they had not worked. It seemed she was too weak to use them. He cried out under the pummel of punches she was dealing to him.

Suddenly his larger than life hand reached over his shoulder and grabbed her by the hair. He had a whole fistful of it. In a single, forward motion, he flipped her over his shoulder and slammed her into the ground, hard. She was instantly seeing stars. She saw his fist coming towards her face and then there was nothing.

* * *

Just in time, Markas was able to catch his body with telekinesis before falling into a fiery death. For as hard as he flew, he didn't even think that the blow he was dealt would leave a bruise. He began to fly back to the top of the pillar and decided that after he _killed_ Hell Boy, he was never coming back to the Astral Plane again. 

As he looked he saw the Rogue was knocked out again and Pyro was standing over her, wings retracted behind his back. He stood facing Markas, ready to fight.

"Back for more are ya?" After his taunt he released a stream of fire from his mouth like a dragon. Markas was ready this time. Putting up a telekinetic shield a good ways away from him, he stopped the stream of fire dead on its tracks. Even from the safe distance of being incinerated, Markas could still feel the heat from the blast. He sighted a stone gargoyle and uprooted it from its perch. Using one hand to hold the shield and one to propel the gargoyle, he launched it into Pyro. The fire stopped and he stumbled forward as the gargoyle shattered on his back. Wasting no time, Markas snatched another one and hurled it at him. As Pyro belched a fireball in defense Markas snatched and threw yet another one. While the first one exploded harmlessly into flames in midair, the second smashed into Pyro's skull.

Unfortunately, there were no more gargoyles or Markas would've continued his onslaught.

"Not bad, mate. Ya gonna havta do better n'at!" he said belching three successive fireballs at Markas. Instead of using his telekinesis, which he discovered drained his energy fast; he ran toward the fireballs, dove, tucked and rolled as they sailed over his head. He was close enough to Pyro to strike out and so he did. He gave him a punch and hit him square in the chin. He tried to follow-up with a kick but Pyro blocked it easily. Now they were engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand battle.

_Punch, kick, block, punch, punch, ohmygod duck, dodge, strafe, punch again, watch out! Keep fighting, don't stop, wear him down, you got this…ow!_

Markas was flying through the air again, having been dealt another hammer blow from Pyro's massive fists. He landed on his back and as sliding backwards. Markas performed a backwards roll and stood in stance, waiting for what was coming next. Pyro flew over to the ledge, where there was suit of armor in full stance, holding a sword. He was retrieving the sword to bring it to battle.

_This keeps getting better and better. Jean! How do I beat this guy?_

Try to use your powers as little as possible here because they will drain your energy. Use your physical strength here.

Markas had figured as much, and Jean had confirmed him. He didn't like this sword business that Pyro was bring to the fight. He flew up, above the ledge and came diving towards Markas, hoping to lop his head off with sword. His speed surprised him and he had just enough time to avoid the attack.

_Oh _no _you didn't_! Markas thought to himself. He needed a way to get him back on the ground. Markas could fly too, but that meant using his power. Those wings were kind of nifty. Pyro came in for another swoop, anticipating Markas's dodge, he swung to one side and swung lower, catching Markas on the right hip with his sword. With a yelp Markas grabbed his hip.

The gash wasn't so deep but it was wide. Blood began to seep out of the wound. It was time to get an equalizer. Markas looked and discovered another suit of armor, wielding a sword. He contemplated going to retrieve it but decided that calling it to him with telekinesis would require significantly less energy. The sword came out of the hilt and flew to Markas with whirlwind speed. Donning the sword he was able to parry Pyro's next attack my mere millimeters.

_That was close…_

Markas gripped the sword and stood, waiting for Pyro to make another pass at him. He would need to use his power one more time, which would drain his energy even more. More than he needed energy, he need Pyro out of the air.

_Okay birdie…let's clip those wings_.

As Pyro came in for a third pass, Markas used his telekinesis to give him a boost jump. He was higher in the air than Pyro was. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. He twirled in the air and flipped like an acrobat until the angle was just right to—

_--gotcha!_

With one mighty swing the better part ofhis right wing was cut away.Pyro face planted, slid and rolled across the stone pavement as Markas landed gracefully on his feet.

"AGH! You circumcised me!" Markas winced at the grotesque image. Pyro came barreling towards him, swing his sword and screaming like a banshee. Markas held his position and the fencing match began. It was such a surprise that Markas's strength and speed matched his opponent's. There was a whirlwind of arms and blades as they fought. The metallic _clangs_ send a non-rhythmic melody echoing through the halls of the room.

Before long, Markas realized that they were at a stalemate with the swordplay. Neither one of them knew what they were doing as swordsmen; both were equally matched with speed and strength. Something had to give.

_Uh oh._

A belched fireball from Pyro's mouth smashed into Markas's chest, sending him sprawling towards the edge of the pillar. He was able to catch himself to keep from going over, but his weapon fell down into the fire, fizzling away as it incinerated. He was left with no way to defend himself. Soon Pyro would—

Suddenly, pain like Markas had never known radiated from his abdomen. He looked to discover that he'd been impaled. Pyro stuck the sword through his entire body and into the stone underneath him, pinning him down.

"You put up a good fight, boy. You can't quell the Pyro though. You're out of your league…" he laughed as he gathered a white-hot flame in his hands. He was going to burn Markas alive, he realized. Markas wasn't ready to die…he was too young. He never thought those thoughts would cross his mind. There had to be some retaliation. Pyro was still gathering fire, obviously going for severe overkill.

Markas sighted his salvation. A third suit of armor holding a sword. Tapping into the last bit of his energy he reached for the sword, unsheathed it, pointed it towards Pyro's back and hurled it with every ounce of strength he had left. Just in time, a blade emerged from the middle of Pyro's chest. The flame wisped away with a _whoosh_. Pyro stumbled forward and started to fall on top of Markas. Using his legs Markas launched him up and over his body, over the ledge and into the wall behind him. He heard a scream and then the sound of a body hitting the fire below. The scream, and the demon was no more.

Markas used a punch to break the blade of the sword so that it only protruded from his stomach a little bit. With more agony than Markas knew was possible he pulled himself up and out of the blade. Blood was gurgling out of his stomach and back. They would have to hurry and get out of there.

Rogue was on her feet, now, he saw. She looked differently now. She was good-looking before, but now she was a goddess. Hair auburn hair flowed radiantly around her body in sensual curls. Her body was sculpted and perfect. She was over six feet tall now. She was the perfect woman. More of the mental interpretation of herself on the Astral Plane, he figured. As much as he was convinced that he could die a happy man now having witness beauty so profound, he was still eager to go home and live out the rest of his life.

_Jean…how the _hell _do we get out of here?_

_You can't leave yet! His mind is still there._

_Well we can't stay…I'm in pretty bad shape._

_Lookout!_

Pyro, now bigger, and with a lot more fire emerged from the fire with his wing regenerated. This was too much. Markas was in no shape to fight. Rogue stepped forward, getting bigger and bigger. Big enough to match the enormous monster that had rose from the abyss.

She ran forward and met his on the plat form. They fought and wrestled, trying to knock the other to the ground. It was a spectacular sight. It reminded Markas of the stories that Caleb had told him about when they were kids about the Titans. Pyro looked more like a dragon now, than a man. As he'd hoped, Rogue quickly got the upper hand. She pinned him down on the ground, face down.

"Welcome to _my _world, bitch!" she spat as she grabbed his upper and lower jaw with her hands. She didn't seem to mind that the long, spiky teeth stuck through her skin. She pulled with all of her might and ripped his head off. That wasn't a figure of speech—she ripped his head off, separating it where the jaw hinged.

_Can we leave now_? Markas pleading, feeling he would pass out from blood loss any second. He tried to use mind over matter and remind himself that he was only in an astral reality, that none of it was real. He technically wasn't even breathing air in that moment. He was kind of hard to concentrate when he felt death knocking ferociously on his door.

He felt his eyelids grow heavy and he fell. When he landed he was on the floor of the subbasement in the mansion. He looked up and saw three blurred figures above him.

"Is he gonna be okay," that one was clearly Rogue.

"He'll be okay in a few hours," Jean assured as his vision grew dark and he heard no more.


	18. Evolution

After about ten minutes of going back and forth from the jet to the house, had they finally got all of Adam's stuff into the jet. They were clearly not happy about having to carry his stuff, he noticed. Cyclops had promised that they would be most cooperative with him however. It wasn't as if he just made them carry it; he'd carried some of his stuff too. He figured that he'd come across as ordering them around like they were a moving crew.

He'd never been very good about dealing with people. Throughout the course of his life, he had grown from introvert, to loner and finally to a computer recluse hiding in the desert. His social life existed only through a few fellow employees he fraternized with at work and his contacts that he spoke to online. His thoughts fell vaguely on Lydia. He spoke to her every night religiously. It would be the first time in nearly a year that he hadn't spoken to her. She would no doubt wonder where he was.

_Task at hand, Adam…task at hand…_

They were outside of the jet, still in close enough proximity of his house for him to sense the computers. He activated the lockdown setting on his house. The lights went out and the sound of metal shutters encasing every inch of his house could be heard. It made him sad to leave it all behind. Because of his job, he'd been able to afford the luxurious things of life, something that he'd never had as a child. It would be hard to say goodbye to it and start anew.

"Are we ready?" Jubilee had asked. In the few times that Adam had been to the Xavier institute to visit his little brother he'd never had the pleasure of meeting such a beautiful subject as Jubilee. She was a small framed, athletically built, Asian woman of about thirty. Her hair was short enough to spikes out in a thousand different directions. Though her hair was jet black it had highlights of blonde, red, copper and brown in it. She was dressed in knee-high combat boots, a black leather mini-skirt, aqua tube top, exposing her cute, little stomach. From her ears dangled large, silver hoops. To top the entire outfit off was a full-length, shiny-black, leather trench coat.

"HELLO!" she blurted. She must've noticed that he was staring at her. He did that from time to time. He knew that it was rude but he did it often. It was the way his mind worked, very analytical. Like a computer, he scanned every aspect and observed every detail, making a list to store away in the vast chambers of his mind.

"Sorry…yeah," he picked up his last bag and started to follow them up the ramp when he sensed something. Technology that was not native to his area. He had never encountered something like this before. As it drew closer he began to process the information as to what the machine was at a rate beyond the capabilities of any computer. It was a humanoid robot, equipped with lasers, missiles, bombs, machine guns, jet boosters used for flight and it had only one purpose: seek out and destroy all mutants.

He sensed its artificial intelligence prepare to launch its twin missiles at the jet to destroy…_them_.

_Down!_

"Down! GET DOWN!" he screamed, dropping his bag and diving away from the jet. Though he knew their mutation didn't allow for them to sense the machine saw them comply when he yelled. Apparently they'd been in enough situations to know that when someone shout's "get down," you listen.

The missiles smashed into the jet and the explosion was enormous. After covering his head, sure that the shrapnel wouldn't hit him he looked to see that the jet was completely obliterated by the assault. All of his computer equipment was incinerated, he knew. There was no way that they were flying that jet out of there…much was for sure.

"Sentinels!" Gambit shouted suddenly. Adam couldn't see him but hearing his voice confirmed that he was alive. Involuntarily processing more information about their mechanical attacker, he discovered that it was indeed called a Sentinel. It was an advanced robot specifically designed to detect mutant DNA and destroy any mutants it found. It had no methods of capture, only killing. He could hear the sound of rocket engines coming closer as it landed not thirty-five feet from Adam, facing another direction.

Suddenly a shower of fireworks and sparks showered the eight-foot tall robotic assassin. The source was from Jubilee. The robot seemed unfazed, ran towards her, running through the sparks he dealt her a horrible uppercut and she went sailing twenty feet in the air. Adam was surprised that she was able to flip her body backward and land on her feet. She stumbled backwards a little but still held her ground. A long, thin, metal cylinder suddenly ignited neon pink and smashed into the Sentinel. It knocked it back a bit and the machine struggled to understand the attack.

Gambit continued to bat at the Sentinel, not doing enough good to stop him. Adam quickly scanned the machine for a weak point, a flaw design. If he were closer he could just command the Sentinel to shutting itself down.

_Then why don't you get closer_?

He was on his feet and as he approached he saw that Gambit was knocked to the ground. The Sentinel took careful aim with its arm, from which a chain gun emerged. In seconds, Gambit would be riddled with bullets. Adam accessed the machines CPU and ordered it to stop. To Gambit's luck, was able to stop the Sentinel just in time. The more information he processed about the Sentinel the more he admired it. The work was extravagant. It would've taken millions of dollars to construct this thing. Why was it after them?

He searched and discovered that this machine was only one of many. There could be thousands of machines just like this, wrecking havoc and killing mutants around the world.

Before he could object, Gambit ignited his staff pink again. With all of his might he jabbed the end of the staff into the Sentinel like a spear. Circuits began to fry as kinetic energy surged through it. Soon it fell to the ground in a useless heap. He was lucky he didn't ignite the bombs or other weapons that the machine wielded.

"I could've studied that," he said without realizing he didn't even ask if Gambit and Jubilee was okay.

"I'm fine by the way!" she grumbled angrily as she kicked the heap of metal that was once a magnificent piece of technology.

"Sorry…it's just that…I had complete control over it. It would've done anything I told it to. It wasn't a threat anymore," he explained.

"How'd you do that?" Gambit asked.

"I'm a technopath. I can communicate with technology like a telepath communicates with people's minds. Within a certain proximity, computers will obey the commands that I trigger," he explained.

"That's handy. We'll need you when the rest of them show up," Jubilee said. Adam frowned.

"What makes you think that more of them are coming here?"

"They hunt in packs, like wolves. Their only mission is to…" Gambit began.

"Seek out and destroy any mutant it comes across," Adam finished, sure that he would define the purpose of the machine better.

"Yeah…well they are always in groups. How far away can you sense these things?" Gambit asked, annoyed that he'd been interrupted.

"I can _sense_ them from about a half a mile away but I can only manipulate them from about a few feet away," he said.

"Well that's too bad. As you can see, these things don't need to be a few feet away to destroy something," Gambit replied pointing his staff at the burning wreckage that used to be the jet.

"The X-Jet! Cyclops is gonna be so _pissed_!" Jubilee suddenly interjected.

"What's worse than that, we have no one coming to pick us up. The other jet is outta commission. We're going to have to find another way back to the mansion," Gambit added.

"What are we gonna do? Walk?" Adam pleaded, hoping against hope they had a back-up plane for something like this.

"At the moment, that's our only option. Why don't we go back to your house and start making some phone calls. We might be able to work something out," Jubilee suggested. Adam was just about to agree when he sensed something.

"We can't do that. We have to run!" he said already running away from the house, the wreckage and the Sentinel. They began to follow him.

"What? Why? HEY!" Jubilee grabbed his arm and stopped him from running anymore. "Talk!"

"There are a half a dozen more Sentinels on their way to find out why they can no longer sense this one's signal. We can't fight six of these things at once," he assured her.

"You're _sure_ they're coming and that there's six?" Gambit asked, catching up to them.

"Positive," he recoiled, finding it irritating that they could not just take his word for it. He didn't make mistakes when it came to his power and sensing technology and he wouldn't make something like that up.

_Non-technopath minds are so primitive_.

"Then you had better hope that you evolve real quick and gain super-speed," Jubilee said suddenly sprinting off. Gambit followed her. Adam was infuriated. He trailed behind them, where he had once taken the lead. He was only stopped because of their incompetence and thick-headedness. It was futile to run, the Sentinels would catch them in a matter of minutes.

* * *

Running full-fledged tests on Rogue had proved to be quite a discovery. She sat up on the table, wearing only her sports bra and sweats.

"So, what's the damage, Jean?" she asked.

"I can only give you one answer, Rogue: Evolution. Your powers were lying dormant inside of you from not using them for so long, though they were waiting to evolve. Pyro's power had also climbed exponential levels. You've never used your power on a mutant so much as to kill them, absorbing every bit of their life force and consciousness. Upon doing that, you've evolved. You've taken your strength and the strength of another entire mutant upon you," she explained.

"Well it's not an all-bad thing," she said as she reached out and took Iceman's hands. They were able to touch each other now without having to worry about her sucking the life out of him. She could now activate that part of her mutation at will. A blessing she'd long hoped for.

"I don't think it's a bad thing at all, Rogue," Beast chimed in. "Your power has always been somewhat of a mystery and an enigma. It's been ever so hard to study since we couldn't examine the results of you fully absorbing someone without killing them. You're reflexes have increased. You're stronger than any average man now. You're faster. And…" he trailed off as she summoned a flame in her hand.

"When I do this…I can still feel him…parts of him, inside my head…" she eyed the flame longingly…as if she could be content looking at it for hours on end.

"You will probably always have residual thoughts, and memory fragments from Pyro," Jean explained. "Though you are still you, you have become something more—something greater. You are no longer Rogue, not Pyro, and more than a mixture of the two. You've been reborn as something entirely different—a new creature."

"You're back and that's all that matters," Iceman interjected wrapping her in a warm embrace. Jean almost felt the need to apologize. It was so hard to resist looking at her as a specimen. She wanted desperately to study her blood, brainwaves, and witness a session of her in the Danger Room. As if reading her mind, Rogue looked at Jean.

"I know you're gonna want to do all kinds of tests and what not. Can it wait?" she pleaded. Jean knew that she and Iceman would want some time alone. They'd had a nine-year relationship without so much as a hug or a peck on the cheek without nearly putting Iceman in a coma. She couldn't help but smile.

"I'd really like to take a look at you now…you never know, we could discover things about you that…" Beast trailed off when Jean prompted him to stop talking and let them have their time together. They'd have all the time they needed to do a full study on Rogue…if she even could be called _Rogue_ anymore.

_All that can wait, Jean_.

She laughed as Iceman carried her in his arms out of the door like he was carrying his bride over the threshold.

"Kids," Beast complained looking over the results of the few tests they'd already done.

"Leave them alone, Beast. I think considering their situation you can cut them some slack," she scolded playfully.

"Well…this gives me the time that I need to get something done then," Beast said with a grin from ear to furry ear.

"What's up?"

"Oh come on…don't pretend you have to _ask _me to know what's coming," Beast said with a grin, pulling out a small, velvet ring box. Jean screamed out loud and he came over to her and shushed her.

"Be quite or the whole mansion will know before she does!" he put a finger to his lips.

"Oh my gosh! Are you really going to ask her?" it was such a dumb question.

"Of _course_ I'm going to ask her. What do you think?" he opened the box to reveal a beautiful, several-carat, diamond ring. It was bigger than the engagement ring that Scott had bought for her.

"Beast, with your charm and this ring…you could get a total stranger to tell you yes," she said, encouraging him.

"Well I don't know about that," he blushed.

"Even most men would go for you," she teased.

"Now you're being ridiculous. What do you think she's gonna say?"

"Do you want me to read her mind and find out?" Jean was kidding.

"I wouldn't dream of it! I might be scared to ask her but that take the adventure out of everything," he protested with a huff.

"I was kidding, Beast. She'll say yes. You guys love each other; you're meant for one another," Jean felt herself getting girly and sentimental thinking about it. She felt a wet tear trickle down her cheek.

"Oh brother," Beast complained again. She reached out for him to give her a hug.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so excited for you guys…so happy for you," she said returning his hug.

"She hasn't said yes yet," he said, letting her go.

"She'd have to be out of her damn mind to say no to you!" Jean teased again, rubbing his arm.

"Well then! I have a mission to carry out. Thank you for all of your wonderful advice, Ms. Marvel," he said with a bow, referring to her old mutant alias. She had known Beast for a long time. Beast, Scott, Iceman, Angel and herself were the founding X-Men with Professor X. That was _so _long ago. Now they'd all grown up and found their soul mates. She couldn't help but be happy.

_We have to cling to moments like these_.

With the war approaching, it wouldn't be too long before blissful, simple moments in life we be sparse. War did have an uncanny side effect of making love bloom as if it were on Miracle Grow. She watched as Beast strutted away to find Storm. He was happy, excited and scared out of his mind. She let out a long sigh and soaked it in for all that it was worth.

* * *

Thugs with clubs, knives, chains and other various weapons surrounded Rogue. There were at least twenty of them, if not, more. It almost seemed unfair…almost. With all the grace, poise and fury of an assassin Rogue began to lay waste to them. She was faster, stronger and smarter than she used to be. A man swung a chain at her head, she ducked easily and punched him in the gut, sending him barreling back the way he'd come. She could hear the footsteps of one behind her. She bent forward and kicked back and upwards, connecting with the man's face. She spun, twirling her body in the air and with just the right torque, kicked him again on the side of the head.

Two more came on either side of her, she rushed to meet one. He blocked her first two attacks and she kicked his legs out from underneath him, she jumped on his skull, flipped in midair and kicked the one approaching her from behind. With another graceful twist she landed on the ground with perfect form. Another approached from her right. She ran to meet him. He hesitated for only a moment, all the time she needed. She could hear more of them pursuing her from behind. She leapt forward, planting her feet in the man's chest. She grabbed his arms and pulled down. She rolled backwards on the ground and used her legs to act as a trebuchet to catapult the man into the group of thugs.

They suddenly began to come all at once, to mob her. From every direction they ran. Each one was only a second behind the other. And so the onslaught began. Dealing each one a horrible punch or kick she sent them flying back the way they'd come. After landing, they would only get up and come at her again. Soon enough two arrived close enough together that she didn't have enough time to attack them one at time. She jumped in the air, doing a split kick, hitting them both in their midsections. It was a mistake, she soon discovered, three more were on her in a flash. Pain riddled through her back as one struck her with a club. A fist dealt her a clout to the chin. She caught the arm of the next one, broke it twice and chopped him in the throat.

More blows were being dealt to her, left and right. Three or four of them held her while two of them took turns giving her a beating from the front. She would kick in futility trying to bat them away. Even when she'd succeed another would take the place of the former.

_Ya'll have no idea who ya messin with_!

She could feel a familiar heat rising up from deep within her body. She allowed her body to flame up. The men holding on to her burst, screaming, into flames as well. She wasted no time to take her fiery vengeance. With unholy flames she began to consume any foe that dared to come within her line of sight. Using her hands and her minds to guide the flames she began to chase those who were running away from her. Just as she was regaining her upper hand, she felt a baseball bat hit her legs.

"AH!" she went to her knees. Her legs no longer seemed to work right. They could've easily been broken. Another brave one dared to kick her in the chin. She spiraled through the air. To keep from hitting the ground she flamed up hotter. Soon the heat radiating from her body kept her afloat. She levitated over the ground, scorching anything that came within a close proximity of her. They resorted to throwing things at her. She was able to see them coming in time to respond with a fireball that consumed whatever came her way. She propelled flames underneath her and took flight, burning hotter than she'd ever dare. She circled around and summoned all of the fire burning inside of her in the shape of an enormous dragon. She presided in the heart of the beast. She summoned the beast to breath a flare with heat so intense it quickened her body to be behind it.

After the attack she summoned the flames back to her and noticed there were two left who managed to escape. She took off, burning through the air at an unrealistic race. In seconds she'd caught the first one. She circled back, hovered over the ground in front of him. He stopped dead on his tracks when she gave him a white-hot flamethrower. He fell to the ground, writhing, trying desperately to put out the flames. She had no doubt he'd not succeed as she took flight again to get the other one.

She dove out of the air, flaming down. Keeping her body aflame and flying took more energy than keeping herself in regular form. She tackled the last man standing, snickering at his feeble attempts to fight back. He turned to punch and kick at her. All of his attacks were useless. She kicked him back and down to the ground. Summoning more fire she unleashed the hottest flame she'd ever dared. She could hear him screaming and writhing underneath her ferocious, fiery fury.

"Rogue! ROGUE! STOP! You're at six thousand degrees Kelvin!" Suddenly the holographic world of the Danger Room disappeared. There were no men anywhere. She stopped her fiery onslaught and took a breath.

Beast, Jean and Bobby watched her from the lookout.

"Well…what's the damage?" she asked haughtily. She liked her new powers. She like that she was finally able to touch people without killing him.

"We'd come in and talk to you there but you've made the entire temperature of the room close to 300 degrees Fahrenheit…it's an oven in there," Beast apologized as the spoke to her through the intercom. She couldn't help but smile. The Danger Room's temperature depended on the holographic scenario. If they were on a mock mission to the Antarctic, the temperature was below zero; if the setting was the Sahara, it was well over a hundred. They couldn't even regulate the temperature below 300 because of her.

"Sorry guys," she said with a smile.

"Rogue, you're powers have made an evolutionary leap. The powers you've gained over fire are so intense that you are going to have to learn to control it all over again," Jean explained.

"I _can_ control it," Rogue shot back defensively.

"If you'd been doing a Danger Room Session with anyone else, they'd be burning alive right now," Bobby said. "And I couldn't cool it down because you've burned away all of the moisture in the air."

As much as she hated to admit it, they were right. She couldn't just burn as hot as she had because she could. Others would feel the consequences of her carelessness. Suddenly she had an idea. She began to gather the heat of the room to her. As fast as she could, she sucked it all into herself.

"What are you doing? Are you taking the heat into yourself?" Beast asked.

"Yeah. It makes me stronger anyway. I'm going to have to practice keeping the heat from radiating off of me. As long as I do that, I can burn hot without burning anyone else," Rogue smiled.

"Rogue you just changed the temperature of the Danger Room two-hundred and twenty-five degrees!" Bobby said, obviously looking at the thermometer.

"Well come down here and talk to me then!" She said with a smile. Reluctantly—no—hesitantly they came from the lookout and came into the room. Rogue was glad to see the temperature was to her liking. She began regulating her own body heat back to a normal ninety-eight-point-six. She figured her body temperature, instead of the room was burning around 300.

Bobby came to her side and put his arm around her, no longer careful about where on her body he touched. She leaned over and gave him a little peck on the cheek. Regardless of anything that anyone could say about the _dangers_ of her power, she considered it a blessing. She had always longed to be able to touch people, and now she could.

"Wow…Rogue I'm so happy for you. I'm happy for your evolution. I'd like for you to do daily Danger Room sessions until you're entirely confident that you can control the heat radiation from you body," Jean started.

"I think that would be best," Beast added.

"That's not a problem. I'll do Danger Room sessions until _you_ are entirely confident that I have control," Rogue said with a smile.

"I'm glad to find you so agreeable," Beast said with a smile.

"Everything's changed now. I can finally have the things that I want. I…I'm a new woman," she said. It was true. The things that once held her away from her happiness had all but faded away. Though she felt much of her life she'd been deprived of those things, she thought them more than worth the wait. She'd never take them for granted so long as she lived.

"You're right…you are a new woman. I don't think that _Rogue_ is befitting of you anymore," Jean said with a smile. Rogue thought about it for a second. She'd miss the name, despite the heartache for which it represented.

"Perhaps something pertaining to fire, Inferna, Efreet, Pyra…I don't know," Beast began to suggest.

"She doesn't need a new name at all. We all know her as Rogue, she's still Rogue," Bobby objected.

"No…I am a new person formed from two people. I am Rogue, but I am also Pyro," she paused and thought for only a moment when it came to her. "Pyrogue."

"Pyrogue…" Jean tried it out. Beast laughed.

"A pirogue is a canoe made from a log," he pointed out. They all laughed. That was a horrible mutant name.

"Okay…we'll think of something later. Until then, I'll be Rogue," she said. "C'mon, Bobby. Let's get outta here."

* * *

"A pirogue?" Jean narrowed her gaze at Beast.

"Yes, it's a boat carved from a log. What? I'm not making it up," Beast protested. Iceman and Rogue had run off together again. It left Jean and Beast alone to talk about them again.

"Oh I'm sure. I guess a new name isn't so important," she added.

"I'll think of something."

"I'll bet it'll be something completely appropriate and more intelligent than anyone else can come up with," she teased.

"You make me sound so condescending," Beast objected.

"No it's just…" he cell phone rang. It was Scott. "Hello?"

"Jean! Jubilee and Gambit have just activated their emergency homing becons!"

"You think they ran into trouble getting Adam?"

"They must have. We have no way of going to get them. The other X-Jet is out."

"Okay, call a meeting, put the training on hold for while," she said referring to the children. They said their goodbyes and she started towards the War Room.

"What's up?" Beast asked.

"Gambit and Jubilee have activated their homing beacons…they're in trouble and we have no way of rescuing them."


	19. The Man In Black

Gambit led the way through the desert, unsure of where he was going. They were in quite a bad situation. Their transportation had been destroyed, their coms were far out of range of the mansion and they had no other means of contacting the others at the mansion. They'd already activated their emergency homing beacons, not that it would do any good. There was no guarantee that the others would be able to _anything_ to help them, with both X-Jets completely destroyed. As if things couldn't get any worse, there were six Sentinels chasing after them. They weren't like normal Sentinels; for one, they lacked in size. It seemed that they replaced size for more killing power.

_No picnic…_

"They've reached the site of the explosion," Adam stated simply. At least they would be able to anticipate the attack if it came. They couldn't run forever, Adam, even less so than they. He wasn't seasoned for combat, running or much of anything for that matter. He would be able to help them if those machines got close enough.

"How many of those things do you think you can manipulate?" Jubilee asked him, as if reading Gambit's thoughts.

"All of them, one at a time," he said. Gambit figured what he meant though it wasn't as good an explanation as he would've liked.

"So you can't take control of them simultaneously?" Jubilee asked.

"Correct," he said, giving another short answer.

"You realize that you may be the only hope that we have of getting out of here alive. Those aren't like normal Sentinels," Jubilee added.

"How do _you_ know about Sentinels?" he asked. His tone almost sounded condescending.

"They've been used against the X-Men before. These are different somehow…they're smaller but…more dangerous…" Gambit noticed that he was becoming short of breath as he ran.

"Yes. They are actually a Sentinel prototype. From the information I acquired, it seems that they are deploying groups of eight in various places in the country to test their effectiveness," Adam explained.

"You were able to get all of that?"

"Yes. You'd be surprised how much information is stored just in the memory of a vacuum cleaner," he replied.

"Well you said that they were in groups of eight but that _six_ were after us. That leaves one unaccounted for," Jubilee pointed out.

"Indeed," Adam admitted. He was started to breath heavily too. "They are following our footprints in the dirt."

"How far away are they now?"

"Less than a quarter mile."

"How can you be so calm about that?" Jubilee demanded suddenly.

"Our odds of surviving their attack is only 2 out of 7, but we must still take that chance."

"Are there any vehicles around here? A car dealership?" Jubilee pleaded.

"Probably not, we're in the middle of the desert," Gambit chimed in.

"The only cars besides mine are from my neighbor's and we're heading in the wrong direction anyway," Adam added.

Gambit muttered some curses in French. The situation was sounding more and more hopeless by the second. Adam could deal with them pretty quickly with his power, Gambit could do some damage if he were close enough. Jubilee was basically useless against them; her sparks didn't do anything against them. They didn't have much for a battle strategy—it was fight or die.

"We need to stand and fight them then," Gambit said.

"Yes. We lower our chances of beating them in a fight the longer that we continue to run," Adam confirmed. It was settled then—they were going to fight six deadly, prototype Sentinels with a two in seven chance of winning.

_Dieu m'aident_.

* * *

"So what do we do?" Beast asked, throwing his hands in the air. Cyclops had to admit it looked pretty bleak. There was no way of telling exactly how bad the situation was from where they were. X-Men only activated their _emergency_ homing beacons in the case of an emergency. They had no way of rescuing them with the other X-Jet out of commission.

"I am at a complete loss," Cyclops admitted. "If anyone has any bright ideas now is the time to throw them out on the table."

"How long would it take to repair the X-Jet?" Storm pondered aloud. That was a far cry. Even after collecting all of the pieces, they'd have to place them correctly and weld them into place. It was an hours-long job at best.

"Hours…a day or two," Beast said.

"What if we all pitched in? I could hold all of the pieces in place while you wielded them," Jean suggested.

"I could help you weld the metal together," Storm pointed out. Since Cyclops's beams were heatless, he could be of no such service.

"Even with our combined efforts, it could be hours before we are able to get in the air," Beast sighed. Cyclops slammed his fist on the table. He didn't like having his team hung out to dry. If something happened to Gambit or Jubilee he'd never forgive himself.

"Wait! I have an idea!" Jean exclaimed suddenly. "But it will mean getting a little help from the brotherhood."

* * *

Gambit was ducked behind a cactus, as was Jubilee and Adam. The Sentinels were scanning the area. Adam was in the front ready to take control of the first one that was in range. Gambit was there for support in case anything went awry. Adam said that hopefully if he could get control of one of them he could reconfigure it to hunt other Sentinels. If the others had no protocols but to destroy mutants and parry their attacks, they might just let the sabotage come.

Gambit was hopeful too. He was quick and powerful and had a lot of faith in his abilities but he was not bullet proof. One wrong move and he'd be full of lead, sawed in half with a laser, or blown to bits from missiles. It was a shitty situation and it was about to hit the fan.

_Notre père dans le ciel, creusé soit votre nom_, he prayed. Now was as good a time as any to make his peace with God.

* * *

For the first time since the attack, Jean looked upon her sworn enemy: Mindflare. He was doing sets of push-ups and sit-ups to occupy his time. Unlike that of federal prisons, the X-Men didn't offer the comfort of television, radio or much of anything else. He peered through the bulletproof glass with an evil smile. His powers were not active because he was exposed to constant anti-mutant radiation that kept his power dormant so that he couldn't do any harm.

"Why Phoenix, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked with Magneto's mock etiquette bleeding through from the grave. They were much alike in manner, but Mindflare was a thousand times more irrational and murderous than Magneto—even in his last days.

"Cut the formalities, Mindflare. I'm here to ask you a favor," she snapped.

"How may I be of service to you?"

"Your helicopter—when I searched Gambit's memory I discovered that you had a helicopter that you flew in here. Where is it?" she demanded.

"Why do you think that I would share that information with you, given our circumstances," Mindflare sneered.

"Two of my friends are in trouble and you know where the quickest flying vehicle is. We need your help," she said. She knew it was futile to ask. It was a shame that they couldn't let the radiation down. She could yank the information from his mind while someone else held him down. He was a formidable enough psychic that it would be almost as much time to look for it.

"You must be out of your mind. There's no way in Heaven, Hell or Earth that I would tell you where you could find _my_ helicopter. It's probably not even where we left it. The rest of the Brotherhood has probably confiscated it and taken it back to the base—where they are devising ways to break me and Exus out of here by the way," he smiled that evil smile again. She was tempted to slam him against the wall with a telekinetic wave but quickly remembered the residual radiation kept anyone from using their powers that close to a cell.

It was no use. They'd just have to find the copter, if was still there, the traditional way: looking.

* * *

Storm high around the proximity of the mansion grounds, hoping against hope. She'd circled twice, widening her flight each time. She had thought about asking Isaac to help her look but even the precious minutes to find him and ask him to help were minutes they didn't have.

The copter was nowhere to be found. The only place left to look was by the secret exit in the backwoods. She summoned the wind and veered a hard right with all the speed that she could muster. She covered the few miles as quick as she could when she saw it. There, amidst the shrubbery, in a small dirt clearing just large enough for a small aircraft to land, was a black helicopter.

She flew down to find it. It would be quicker if she flew the helicopter in on the basketball court, telling the rest of the X-Men to meet her there.

_At last…something good is finally happening_, she thought with a glimmer of hope.

* * *

The man in black waited patiently for his cell phone to ring. It wouldn't be long; his employers were usually on time to the _second_. There was plenty of work to go around now that Mindflare's little stunt had turned the whole world in an uproar. He was still at his place in Puerto Rico, alone this time. Several mutants, thinking he was only a Homo Sapien. He'd taken great pleasure in removing several of their limbs before he tossed them over his balcony and into the streets.

Killing was the only thing that he'd ever been good at. Since the discovery of his mutation he knew that he could transform himself into a weapon. He'd only trained for two years before he became a hit man. It wasn't a very honorable profession he knew, but it made a hell of a lot more money than anything else he could've done. He was never good with his studies in school, he was a dropout. College was out of the question with his situation. He had the ability to see the potential in something and his gift, given the right edge, could make him a living weapon.

His phone sounded without warning. He picked it up before the ring was even over.

"Speak," he said plainly, wishing to keep the conversation short and to the point.

"Is this the Hybrid?" The voice was electronically cloaked, it sounded deep and robotic.

"Yes. State your proposition."

"We would like you to retrieve our leader for us. He's being held in…"

"You know that rescue missions aren't exactly my forte, yes?" he cut him off.

"We know. But you're the only one who can get Mindflare out of there without getting him killed or getting yourself captured. So if you would, we'd be more than happy to…"

"How much?" he interrupted again.

"Well, How does two hundred pounds of pure gold bars sound to you?" asked the man on the other end.

"Sounds like a deal. When?"

"Immediately," he replied.

"He'll be safely back in your nest in forty-eight hours," he hung up the phone with that. Two hundred pounds worth of gold bars! It was a nice chunk of change.

_The Brotherhood had better come through, that's all I have to say_.

If they didn't, they'd be mincemeat before they knew what hit them. He picked up his cell phone and began to dial.

"Yes sir?" the man on the other end asked. He had a Puerto Rican accent.

"Have my jet ready within the hour," he demanded.

"Destination, sir?"

"Westchester, New York."

* * *

Cyclops took the helicopter up off of the ground. It was only he and Storm going on the mission. If they were to retrieve Gambit, Jubilee, Adam and his stuff, they were going to have to travel light.

"Can you do the same wind trick with this thing as you do with the X-Jet?" he asked giving her a sideways glance. She didn't respond but here eyes began to fill with a fog and wind look as they always did when she changed the weather. Soon the copter was traveling three times the speed that it would normally be able to. If she were to change the atmospheric pressure anymore, however, she could crash the craft—not a good thing. They were making great time and would be there in under an hour…but would it be enough?

* * *

The Sentinel was just out of reach of Adam's technopathy. Any closer and he'd be able to manipulate it at will. He tried desperately not to twitch or make any movement. Nothing bothered him more than _almost_ being able to do something. All he had to do was reach…reach…

_Reach_…

He crawled forward as silently as he could. He could feel the tension growing, as Gambit and Jubilee must've been panicking. Though the odds were against them, the plan was good. Adam was to take control of as many as he could. Any who began to strike would fall victim to Gambit. All the while, Jubilee would make a fireworks display for distraction, protecting the two men. It could work but survival was still slim. Just as he was about in reach the Sentinel turned and looked at him, aware of his presence.

The Sentinel brought his arm up and began to unsheathe his chain gun. He was aiming at Adam's face. In desperation Adam leapt forward and struggled desperately to control the Sentinel before he was riddled with bullets.

Moving faster than he'd ever attempted on hacking a system he gained control just as the chain gun had begun to spin. Milliseconds later and the bullets would have begun to escape the barrels. He had control of the Sentinel, now all he had to do was…

"Enemies sighted. Mutants identified as X-017r Gambit, X-009j Jubilee, and M-307a Adam Wryly!" Sounded another Sentinel to Adam's left.

Adam now had complete access to the Sentinel. He could receive all of the information that it could and send out information to the other Sentinels. He found a group of two Sentinels now approaching them, and activated the missile launcher. Without warning, two missiles ejected from its shoulder, took off, and obliterated the other two Sentinels. The others began to fire through the night with their chain guns; one activated its laser and began sweeping through the area. Cacti were severed in half or in more pieces and they began to topple over. Adam wanted to stay put but a gigantic one was falling on him and his Sentinel. Without time to preserve them both Adam rolled out of the way to avoid being crushed. It landed atop the motionless Sentinel and knocked him to the ground as well.

Adam had no way of defending himself against the other Sentinels and one sighted him. He hit the ground, hiding behind the fallen cactus as he heard bullets boom out. Dirt and bits of cactus exploded around him. He did his best to remain calm. He prompted the Sentinel to get back up.

The Sentinel got up, lifting the Cactus over his head. He threw at the cluster. Two jumped away just in time and one was pummeled down to the ground, pinned as his had been before. A flash of a brown trench coat and pink staff flew past the Sentinel's line of vision. Gambit took opportunity of the distraction and decapitated one of the remaining Sentinels. Fireworks with whistles and explosions sounded from behind them. Jubilee was right on cue. The still-standing enemy Sentinel moved in direction of the noise and light. Gambit heaved his staff, charged neon pink with his energy, like a javelin and impaled the Sentinel where a human's waist was. Grinding, screeching metal squealed as it tried to continue walking.

"_Au revoir_," Gambit said, detonating the charged staff. There were only pieces left. That left only one more Sentinel.

Adam decided that he would take control of the last one before Gambit got any more destructive ideas. The last Sentinel crawled from underneath the cactus it had fallen under and was poised, ready to attack. It was too late for him though, Adam had hacked his controls in a matter of second. Now two Sentinels waited to act only at Adam's command.

"That's quite a gift you have there, _garcon_," Gambit said, retrieving his staff from the rubble.

"Yes it is. Without it you'd be dead so I'd prefer if you referred to me as _monsieur_," Adam spoke enough French to hold a basic conversation. He was calculated at forty-two percent fluent.

"_Combien de français savez-vous_?" Gambit asked him.

"_Asse'à passer_," Adam replied.

"_Enfin! Quelqu'un qui parle ma langue_!" Gambit said, "At last! Someone who speaks my language!"

"Don't get your hopes up…I'm not exactly fluent.

"_Nous devrons remédier à de cela_. We'll have to fix that," Gambit provided the translation.

"Indeed we will," Adam agreed with a smile. Jubilee ran up to them, bouncing wonderfully in the dark.  
"That was awesome! Gambit you were incredible! Throwing your staff like that! Adam! Good thing you were here! We'd 've been toast!" she said, excited to be alive. Adam shared the sentiment but couldn't resist.

"We got lucky, that's all."

"Oh stop being such a stick in the mud and enjoy yourself for once!" she said giving him a playful punch in the arm. She ruffled his hair. Although he didn't mind the attention of a beautiful woman, he wondered why she was suddenly so chummy with him. She leapt from her stance and embraced Gambit in a huge hug. Laughing he sat her down and things began to become serious again.

"Don't mind her, she's always like this after we win a fight," Gambit explained. As if to suddenly cut their party short, helicopter wings began to _chop-chop _from the sky above.

"It's gotta be the MCA! Blow em outta the sky!" Jubilee suggested trying to pinpoint the copter.

"I agree!"

"Wait…they're sending a radio signal this way. That frequency isn't even legal!" Adam said, surprised to be receiving it.

"You can retrieve radio signals?" Jubilee asked, flabbergasted.

"Yes, any kind of signal you can imagine: cell phones, radio, two-way phones, satellite information if I get it on a skip. Hold on, I'm gonna tune in and find out what they want," Adam said. Tilting his head towards the general direction of the sound.

"A man of many talents," Gambit beamed. Adam wanted to think of something witty to comeback with but this was better.

"Hey Jubilee, throw a couple of your fireworks in the air…your friends are here," he said with a smile.

* * *

Cyclops circled the X-Jet wreckage; it didn't look good at all. Storm was moving the spotlight to and fro, frantically trying to find signs of their friends.

"It doesn't look good. We'll have to search the jet to see…" she trailed off, not daring to even speak the horrible possibility.

"Alright, I'll take her down," he said. Just as he was about to circle around and land, three jubilant red flares exploded in the night, not two miles from the wreckage. The red flares became a thousand sparkles of white, blue, purple and green.

"THERE!" Storm shouted, pointing ahead. Cyclops was already on his way. She shined the spotlight and saw five figures, three jumping up and down, two completely still under the light. As they got closer, Gambit, Jubilee and finally Adam could be recognized—they all seemed to be unharmed. Beside them were two more humanoid figures; though they were smaller and their colors were different it was unmistakable as to what they were.

_Sentinels!_

They landed and the five of them, eight foot-tall Sentinels included approached the helicopter. The Sentinels sprawled out on the floor of the passenger cab as Gambit, Jubilee and Adam took the seats. Adam stared hard at the Sentinels, as if he were concentrating.

"You have some explaining to do!" Cyclops yelled over the blades. Within minutes, they were on there way home. Cyclops listened as Jubilee and Gambit filled him in on everything that happened. He was happy to find out that Adam was able to control the Sentinels. He planned on studying them and finding a weakness. No doubt a penance for his past failures.

_Don't be judgmental_. _At least he's good for more than information…if he's even good for that much_.

Cyclops found him self inexplicably doubting Adam's ability to follow through. The lack of reason disturbed him even more. He decided to put his mind on pause for a while. There was no use in worrying about Shadowcat or Nightcrawler until they could do something about saving them, which would have to wait until they got back to the mansion.

_Everything will be okay soon enough_.

* * *

The man in black gave his last bag to the hired hand as he loaded it onto the plane. He took his spot in the passenger cabin as his pilot readied to drive him. He gave the hand a hefty tip and was ready. As the plane roared down the runway and took flight, he poured himself a drink. A smile crossed his face when he realized he wasn't even old enough to buy alcohol in the states. He had enough money now, he could have whatever he wanted.

His thoughts fell on the mansion. It was the very first rescue mission since he'd got into his line of work three years ago. It seemed like it had been much longer since he'd left home. His only objectives were to rescue Mindflare and Exus from their containment cells in the subbasement—easy enough. He was plenty capable of getting in and out undetected but he'd have two more people with him.

He tried to concentrate on a course of action as he looked over the blueprints of the mansion that had been faxed to him but he found his thoughts wandering elsewhere again. He'd vowed to leave his old life behind—his life as a human—and never return. That mansion held a few pieces of his past he didn't care to confront.

_Get yourself together…you're a professional…this is what you do_!

He decided instead to clean his gun and sharpen his sword. The repetitious activity would allow him to do something productive while still having his mind go awry. He'd get to the heavy thinking later he decided.

_All those X-Men against me…it just doesn't hardly seem fair…_he thought with a sneer as he ran the stone across his blade.

_Soon…_


	20. Abaddon

"Okay, let's hear it," Cyclops said, giving Adam the stage. Adam quietly made his way to the podium and took the remote. They had waited long enough to find out how they were going to help their friends.

"Okay I'm going to try to be as informative and to-the-point as I can possibly be. Feel free to ask any questions as I explain.

"The maximum security prison that your friends, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler, are being held in is called Sheol, named after the Hebrew reference to one of the levels of Hell," Adam began.

"How appropriate," Storm muttered bitterly.

"Indeed," Adam dryly agreed. "This prison is not your ordinary prison; it's a fortress. On the surface it appears to be quite small for a prison, having on two levels above ground. It is actually quite vast in size, going down several hundred feet underground. Think of the shape as a big pyramid. The levels get wider and wider as the structure goes deeper into the earth.

"For fugitive mutants such as Nightcrawler and Shadowcat, they will be held on the bottom levels were escape is least likely."

"How do we get them out?" Jean asked, wanting him desperately to move along.

"I'll get to that. A ten-foot thick, twenty-foot high concrete reinforced wall protects the outside, with razor wire bordering the entire top of it. There is only one gate into the pit and you must past the security clearance to get through. There are two phases there, one through a retinal scan to confirm you are who you say you are the second is of course having clearance in the records that a guard will be holding. If you fail either of these security measures and you are a mutant, you will be shot on sight.

"Inside the pit there will be twenty men patrolling, each armed to the tooth with grenades, fully-automatic rifles, and all sorts of other goodies. There are three fenced layers that you must get through, each presenting your progressively stamped pass to the door. Also inside the pit, at its four corners are four watchtowers. Each tower houses an operator, two watchmen and two snipers. There is only one entrance into the building, at which you must post another retinal scan and a fingerprint analysis…as well as present your fully stamped pass. The windows are on the second floor, tinted so that no one can see in. They are bulletproof, concussion resistant and armed with metal shutters over them that will close immediately if any of them are disturbed.

"The roof is the apex of the pyramid. There is no way to land on it and no entry way into the building. The top portion of the apex is simply solid, steel-reinforced concrete."

"What about ventilation shafts?" Gambit asked hopefully. The situation was sounding more and more bleak by the minute.

"I'm sorry. There are many ventilation shafts but most of them are not even big enough to house a small child. Even if you were to get into one of them, they have motion and heat detectors that will, upon being tripped, will activate class five cutting lasers that crisscross through the entirety of the shaft, incinerating whatever's inside.

"Once inside, every inch of the complex is under surveillance—even the restrooms. If, for any reason at all, Abaddon decides that someone's behavior is a threat to Sheol's operation, it will activate all kinds of killing devises, such as gasses, lasers, machine gun turrets—you name it—to detain or kill any intruder or threat."

"Abaddon?"

"What's Abaddon?"

"The mainframe supercomputer that controls all of the security protocols for Sheol—for the prison," Adam replied.

"What is it otherwise?"

"The Destroyer," Beast said informatively. "The angel in the book of Revelation who arose from the bottomless pit, or Sheol, holding its keys and wrecking havoc on the earth. It's almost poetic. Did you name it?"

"Yes. I had no idea that Abaddon was going to be sold to the MCA, and when I did find out, there was nothing I could do. It does seem kind of ironic that Abaddon would become the tenant of Sheol in the Bible and here. Don't you think?" Adam asked amused.

"Quite. Is there anything else?" Cyclops asked.

"Only that Abaddon closely monitors and controls every inch of the place, from top to bottom—once you get inside, you're in his domain," Adam said. He sounded as if he were finished and started to walk back to his seat.

"Whoa! Hold it. Now we get to the part where you tell us how we save our friends," Storm broke the silence. Adam laughed—big mistake. "This is the furthest thing from funny."

"In case I haven't made it abundantly clear, saving your friends is nearly impossible. They are locked in airtight and only someone with clearance, like the head of the MCA could let them out—which isn't going to happen. Even with a team as well-trained as the X-Men, you don't have the means or the capability of getting them out," he shrugged.

"So that's it?" Jubilee asked indignantly.

"You call us up, telling us that you have intel on our friends, that you know _how_ we can save them and then you say it's impossible?" Storm demanded.

"I'm sorry—I did what I had to and I gave you all of the information you could possible ask for," he said in his defense. There was uproar; the X-Men began to leap down Adam's throat simultaneously, driving him further back. He tried to say something but they wouldn't let him get a word in. Finally, Cyclops silenced them.

"Adam…throw all of your probabilities and statistics out of the window and compute something for me. What do we need to get our friends back?" Cyclops asked.

"You would need a lot of fire power to get past the wall, the guards, and the snipers. You would need a protective barrier to keep your entire team safe while you were inside, until you could shut down Abaddon from its core. Then you would have to fight off the many guards who help to protect the prison wings, bust out your friends and make it out before the failsafe self-destruct sequence was activated," he answered.

"How easy is it to shut down Abaddon?"

"Nearly impossible. There are no consoles, no inputs into his core. He is as much as fortress as Sheol itself. Even if you could find a way to tap into him, his software is protected by a series of overlapping and interlocking passwords, firewalls and other security measures to keep him from being hijacked or hacked. I designed him to be unhackable," Adam admitted.

"I bet you did. So there's no one in the world that could get into his system?" Cyclops narrowed his eyes, hoping he could get Adam to say it with his own mouth.

"Well, no one except me of course," as soon as Adam said the words, he appeared to regret it.

"If I could assure your safety in and out of Sheol, would you be willing to go in, hack Abaddon, and help us retrieve our friends?"

"There's no way you can guarantee anything of the sort," Adam challenged.

"You let me worry about that. If I can convince you that you will be safe, can you do it?"

"It's not a question of whether I can, I'm plenty capable…"

"_Will_ you?"

"No one goes into Hell without getting burned," Adam said. "But if you can come up with a good enough plan, I will help you get your friends back."

"Give me a few hours. This meeting is adjourned. You may all take a break. Beast, I need you to repair the X-Jet ASAP. If you want, recruit as many people as you need to help you, even the students. Jean, I'm going to need to look over the Xavier Protocols," he said. The room filed out and Cyclops began to plan the most intense mission he'd even attempted.

* * *

Lindsey used the time that she had to do something she'd been waiting a while to do. She slipped away unnoticed from the others training sessions and the X-Men. She had tactfully asked around until she had enough information to know where stockade was. Now, the doors were opening and she would soon look into the eyes of the man responsible for her grandmother and her aunt's deaths.

She turned the corner and looked into the first cell. There was a woman there, lying still on the bed asleep. She moved to the next cell and saw a man, in his mid-thirties. He was short and muscular. His skin was bronzed from the sun. He wore a sleeveless, white undershirt and green army fatigues. He donned a well-trimmed, reddish-brown mustache and goatee on his face, although the rest of his face had clearly accumulated a few days' stubble. His large, almond-shaped, hazel eyes were kept safe underneath two thick, auburn brows. His face was perfectly symmetrical down to the wrinkle-creases on his noble forehead. He carried no scars or blemishes, save for a few freckles across his nose and cheeks. His hair was long, straight and dark brown. Lindsey was surprised. She hated him already, for what he'd done and for the kind of man he was. She still couldn't deny how attractive he was.

He smiled when he saw her, revealing perfectly straight, pearly-white teeth. His smile seemed to tell her that he knew her, that he _expected_ her at that very precise moment in time.

"Lindsey, yes?" he asked through the intercom. She didn't care how he knew her name.

"Mindflare?"

"One and the same. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"To my Nana and my Aunt Pam!" Lindsey spat bitterly. "You made me—you made me—why?" She was getting more upset than she intended, but in the moment, she didn't care.

"Why? To stop the meaningless delay of the inevitable! We all knew that a war was coming. I just hit the accelerator," he said with a smile, obviously proud of himself.

"Do you realize how many people died because of what you did?"

"Do you realize how many _more_ people will die because of what I did?" he smirked.

"You're sick. What are you trying to accomplish by all of this?"

"A world where mutants can live without the fear and hostility that comes from the oppressive homo sapiens. A world of peace and harmony—a utopia!" he said.

"A _utopia_? You wanted peach and harmony by starting a war? That's insane!" Lindsey protested.

"Insane, perhaps, necessary yes. Mankind revolves around an endless cycle of war, peace and revolution. That's what this is…a revolution of mutants taking their rightful place in Creation!" he declared. She couldn't find words to respond. He really believed in what he was trying to do.

"There may not be anyone around to help you build your utopia after the war is over," Lindsey replied. "Besides, even if everything you wanted comes to pass, you're still locked away in this cage—where you belong."

"They can't keep me locked up forever. I have many powerful friends who will go to great lengths to ensure that I am free. I'm sure that even now the Brotherhood is planning ways to get me out of here," he said. He sounded convincing enough.

"As long as I have breath in my lungs, I will give every ounce of strength I have into making sure that you're either locked away or dead," Lindsey had never meant anything more in her life.

"Your threats are less than idle. You have no training, no experience and your convictions keep you from killing," he snapped back.

"Not you—there's nothing that I'd take more pleasure in than ending your life!"

"Either way—you can't and you won't. You pose no threat to me at all. If—when I escape you'll never find me," he jeered.

"We'll see," she replied shortly and walked away. He laughed demonically as she left.

_God, forgive me for what I want to do to him. Forgive me for what I _will _do to him if he ever escapes_.

* * *

Cyclops waited in the War Room all suited up. It hadn't taken him as long as he'd thought to come up with a course of action. The team was small, but it was perfect for the job. He knew that he had to take only the bare minimum to do the job, otherwise, there was a bigger risk of someone who didn't necessarily have to be there getting killed.

He looked over the list he'd complied of the X-Men going on the mission; there were only four: Storm, Palisade, Shockwave and himself. Adam would also be going along for ride. The other three walked into the war room together, all suited up, including Adam.

"Alright, this is going to be one of the most dangerous missions that the X-Men have ever attempted. Everything must be done precisely as we plan it out.

"As soon as the X-Jet is repaired, the four of us are going to take it as close to Sheol as we can without being noticed. From there, we will all join Palisade in one of his shields, and Storm will fly us right up to the prison. She will do what she does best and clear the pit for us. I'll take care of the towers. From there, Storm will drop Palisade, Adam, Shockwave and myself at the door and proceed back to the X-Jet to get ready for our pick up.

"We will make a beeline to Abaddon, under the protection of Palisade. Shockwave will handle any guards or machine gun turrets or anything of that sort. I will handle the remodeling of that place. When we get to Abaddon, Adam will work his magic and deactivate it. From there, we are going to descend into Sheol to retrieve Nightcrawler and Shadowcat. I'm sure that they are in cells that have anti-mutation radiation being shined on them all the time. As soon as we're clear of that, Shadowcat will faze us or Nightcrawler will teleport us to the surface.

"Once there, Storm will pick us all up in the X-Jet and we can go home," Cyclops finished.

"That won't work," Adam, with his ever-pessimistic tone retorted.

"Why?" Cyclops asked.

"Jake can't hold a shield that long—those small windows would be all a bullet or gas or anti-mutation radiation would need to get through," he objected.

"For you information, Adam, I can hold a shield a lot longer than the last time you saw me. I've kept one for an entire hour before," his younger brother shot back.

"Even still, it's dangerous," he complained.

"Yes. I promised you that I could ensure your safety and this plan will keep you from harm the entire time. Not even radiation can penetrate Palisade's shields but it allows anything out of it. We'll be crammed tight but it's going to have to work," Cyclops said.

"I'll do it," Adam said, as if Cyclops would've given him a choice in the matter.

"Great. Saddle up!"

**_A few hours later…_**

Shockwave sat in his seat, sweating from nervousness. He'd always loved actions movies but real life wasn't so adventurous; it was scary. He was going to be in real, potentially life-threatening, danger. He also had the job of taking care of any interference such as guards, machine guns, and lasers.

_This is so 'oh dear_.'

"You alright?" Palisade suddenly asked him. He shook his head.

"No I'm scared out of my mind," he admitted.

"Not me! We're finally gonna get a chance to hack back at the MCA," he replied.

"Glad to see you're so eager…they're people too ya'know."

"You sound like you feel sorry for them," Palisade narrowed his gaze.

"I am sorry for them…especially after we get done with that place," he was really sorry because he knew how much devastation and possible death they were going to cause once they got there.

"There you go! Get yourself pumped…this may sound crazy but try to have fun," he rested a hand on his shoulder. Shockwave gave him a look.

"Have fun?" He asked as Palisade shrugged with a nod.

"Alright guys I'm putting her down," Storm said from the pilot seat. Adam had been perfectly silent the entire flight. Even as they unbuckled and made their way down the ramp he was completely soundless.

"Is he always like this?" Shockwave asked curiously.

"Yeah…he's always thinking or computing information or whatever. Don't mind him…he's not so bad after you get past the smell," he said the last part loudly enough for Adam to hear it. He turned and looked at them, rolled his eyes and still, said nothing.

As the ramp closed behind them, Storm hit a button on a remote and the stealth function kicked in. In a mirage-like blur, the X-Jet disappeared.

"Okay. Say your prayers, recite your good-luck rituals, cross your fingers…whatever. Here' we go," Cyclops said moving close to Palisade. They all moved in until their shoulders were touching. Soon a pink sphere materialized around them from nowhere.

"You said anything can get out of these…so what's to stop us from falling through?" Shockwave asked, concerned.

"I can make it so that nothing gets in or out," Palisade calmly explained. Thunder rolled from the hills as Storm began to summon the weather. Soon wind powerful enough to lift the pink, transparent bubble began to swirl around them. Shockwave felt none of it but it sounded like what he thought a tornado would sound like.

Soon they were up in the air, floating in a wind-roar towards a gigantic concrete pyramid. It was exactly as Adam had described it, a wall topped with razor wire, for towers at each corner inside the pit, the last part of the pyramid erupting from the ground to form its apes. There was a row of black windows around the top part. If Adam was right, it wouldn't be too long before they were all shut with steel shutters.

Lightning flashed more than once a second, bouncing occasionally off the pink sphere that protected them. Before long, they were completely above the pyramid and men were shooting at them with machine guns. They bounced off of the pink shield without so much as causes a vibration. Soon the rain of lightning came down and began to consume the men below. They tried to run or go in side but all were tagged by the lightning. Shockwave couldn't force himself to look away as the bodies of men were thrown to and fro around the yard.

Cyclops ignited his optic blast on a powerful setting—the top of the first tower disappeared. He moved to the next one without flinching—and the next and the next. It was only a matter of minutes before the entire yard was completely cleared; the MCA never stood a chance.

"Alright, let me out through the top and I'll drop you down!" Storm said to Palisade.

He nodded and she flew out of the top of the shield. They floated right down to the front door, which was armed with twin machine gun turrets that were already firing at them.

_Gotta do what I gotta do_…

Shockwave took aim and one and unleashed a medium-small _boom_. The gun was dismounted from its turret and landed on the ground. He did the same with the next. It fascinated him that even the sound of the rounds firing was dulled inside of the shield that Palisade provided for them. While Shockwave disposed of the second gun, Cyclops simultaneously blasted the door away with his concussive blast. Inside was mayhem. There were guards on either side of the hallway firing away with automatic rifles. On two pillars on either side of the room where lasers and machine-guns also making a collaborative onslaught against them. They all had to move in sync. Cyclops and Shockwave took the lead so that they could deal with opposition, Palisade was in the middle, managing the shield and finally Adam brought up the rear, waiting for his turn to work against Abaddon. They moved quickly with Shockwave destroying every gun and laser that they came across. Cyclops contributed a little, getting rid of the guards. They both had to go to be the muscle because only one of them would run out of energy too quick to finish the mission. Cyclops gathered his energy from the sun, storing it in the organic blasters in his eyes and they had yet to determine from what Shockwave gathered his energy. Together, they could pace themselves and not run out of gas too quickly. The room was cleared and they were moving faster than ever now.

"Which way is the fastest way to Abaddon?" Cyclops asked.

"Well we're gonna have to go up the stairs because we'll never squeeze through the elevator. It's actually on this floor in the far south side so…" Adam didn't get to finish. Cyclops turned south and fired his blast at the nearest wall. It revealed a hallway and they continued their chase. They were making a 'beeline' as Cyclops had promised to Abaddon, destroying everything in their path. It was carnage. A lot of times, MCA prison guards were killed by the ricochets of their own weapons bouncing off of Palisades' shield. As sad as it was, it made Shockwave's job that much easier.

Soon they were outside a door that simply read, "Abaddon."

"Let me open the door," Adam insisted reaching his hand out towards the control panel and closing his eyes. In a matter of seconds the door hissed on it's hydraulic track and opened to let them in. The room was petty big and the floor was made of cage metal revealing levels below. Guards had seemed to multiply behind them and they were firing away. Shockwave let out a _boom_ that would level most houses.

He watched as men were uprooted from where the stood, bombarded by random chunks of rock coming loose from the wall. They flew in the air until they hit something, whether it be wall, floor, ceiling or another man they bounced around like pinballs. The majority who fell didn't get up off of the ground and Shockwave doubted they ever would. The door closed behind them and Adam took his place at the front.

"Are there any security protocols in this room?" Palisade asked.

"No. They couldn't risk damaging the computer," Adam said confidently. The pink shield disappeared so that Palisade could conserve as much energy as he could. Abaddon was not at all what Shockwave expected. It was a series of six refrigerator size computers in the center of the room.

"That's it?" he asked, not meaning to sound condescending of it.

"_That_ is the most sophisticated security technology that has ever been created, thank you," Adam said defensively. "It's a work of art—my masterpiece."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Da Vinci, but your masterpiece is trying to kill us so could you work your magic please," Shockwave shot back. Adam seemed to be a pretty levelheaded man but he gave Shockwave a look that nearly knocked him through the wall.

"Please," Cyclops added. "Shockwave help me guard the door. Palisade, be ready to throw your shield up at a moment's notice."

"Right."

"Sir."

They waited patiently as Adam worked. Suddenly the door flew open and three round, bowling ball size metallic objects _clanked_ on the floor. Palisade threw up his shield around them and waited for what happened next. Shockwave had expected an explosion…grenades but he turned his head in confusion at what happened next. The three metallic balls began to disassemble and reassemble themselves with a thousand clicks and hisses. Soon they became eight-foot tall robots armed to the teeth with all kinds of 'I'm-gonna-kill-you' goodies. Then, one of them spoke.

"Mutants have been identified as X-001s Cyclops, M-121r Caleb O'Fallon, M-332j Jacob Wryly and M-307a Adam Wryly—destroy by any means necessary," it said in a blatant robot voice. Suddenly, Shockwave remembered where he'd seen them. Adam had brought two of these back to the mansion with him from Arizona. They'd vocalized what they were there to do so he didn't see the point in delaying.

Shockwave focused a blast towards one in the middle. It flew backwards slamming into the wall behind it. Then, it liquefied and slid between the metal cage floor.

"Whoa," he interjected. The other two followed suit and disappeared under the floor.

"They're still coming after us!" Adam yelled.

"Look alive!" Cyclops said, warning Shockwave but it was too late. Suddenly a liquid, metallic mass shot up like lightning from the floor to his left. Before he could retaliate with a _boom_ he felt a stone-cold blast to the face send him flying into the wall behind him.

_Ow!_

He was expecting to be blown to bits by a laser or rocket or by bullets but instead the robot came lunging towards him, kicking at his head. He moved just in time to see its metal feet dig deep gashes in the wall. He ducked just in time as the machine threw him a hook. With all the strength he could muster, he gave a focused _boom_ into its middle. Pieces went everywhere. He could here the sound, and see the light of Cyclops's optic beams being shot. He had to be careful not to damage Abaddon. If they did, they might never be able to shut it down.

Palisade had wrapped himself in a cocoon but was taking a pounding from the robot. Shockwave wondered for a second why they weren't using their other weapons and then it hit him.

_They want to preserve Abaddon just as much as we do_.

Shockwave came alongside the second robot and gave it another unruly powerful _boom_. It smashed into the wall, twitched and sparked for a while on the ground, then lay lifeless. Cyclops had disposed of his easily enough as well.

"Sentinels…I didn't plan on those," Cyclops said, dusting himself off. Palisade came out of his cocoon, looking relieved to be alive. Just as they were about to regroup the door burst open again this time with MCA agents rushing in. Before any of them could react, one of the agents pulled the trigger of a strange-looking rifle, releasing a blue-green stream of electricity that connected directly with Palisade's chest. He convulsed and fell to the floor. Shockwave slammed them all hard into the wall with an unfocused _boom_. Cyclops picked of the remainders with his blasts. They rushed to Palisade's side as quick as they could.

"I'm all done—what happened?" Adam demanded, also rushing to his brother's side.

"Are you alright?" Shockwave asked.

"Yeah…I'm good," they helped him to his feet. "Something's wrong."

"What is it?" Cyclops asked.

"I can't use my power," he said grimly.

The totality of the situation hit Shockwave like a ton of bricks. They would have to navigate the rest of Sheol without the protective covering of Palisade's shield. The only reason they were able to make it that far was because of him.

"Is it permanent?" Adam asked, worried.

"No. I recognize that weapon. It's the anti-mutation radiation harnessed in the form of electricity. What has actually happened is that small radioactive ions have been released in your bloodstream, temporarily stripping you of your powers," Cyclops explained.

"How long?" Palisade asked.

"Depends on how much you take in."

"How long?" Adam asked again.

"Could be hours at least," Cyclops said. They'd have a chance now that Abaddon was shut down but there were still plenty of guards with those weapons all through the complex. How in the world were they going to succeed?

_God help us…_


	21. Sheol

The man in black looked over his array of weapons. They had all been sharpened with a laser and then sharpened even more by hand. Some of them were little more than an atom thick at the edge of the blade. It gave 'like a hot knife through butter' an entirely new meaning. All of his weapons were ancient, exotic weapons: spears, swords, sais, tai chi swords, katanas and etc. He also carried twin SOCOM pistols with six spare magazines on his belt. To top it all off, he carried two flash bang and two incendiary grenades for whenever he was in a serious bind.

He didn't necessarily need any weapons for what he was going to do. It was all espionage, stealth and sneaking around. He didn't like the idea of killing _anyone_ he wasn't paid to. He didn't give out freebies. He left his guns and took a long wooden staff, painted black, instead. He'd be armed and he could better control whether he was lethal or not.

His driver had dropped him off at a safe house he kept in New York. They'd left a black mustang with the keys in the ignition in the garage. He was less than an hour away from the Westchester, where the Xavier Institute was. He went to the garage, got into the car, disassembling his staff into two smaller pieces so that it would fit nicely in the car with him. He hit the garage door opener, started up the car, blared the music and backed out, tires squealing.

Before long, he'd be in the Xavier Institute without a soul knowing it. Before long, he'd have Mindflare busted out and halfway across the Canadian border. Before long, he'd get paid in gold and he could retire for a while.

_Soon_…

* * *

"I'll make this as quick as I can," Adam started as they began to head for the elevator that would take them to the lower levels. They had to be on their toes now that Palisade could no longer use his power to protect them.

"Walk and talk at the same time that's all I have to say!" Shockwave threw his thoughts in and Cyclops couldn't agree more. Even with the machine guns, nerve gas, lasers and Abaddon's other defenses, they still had to keep their eyes open for MCA agents and Sentinels.

"Okay, I'll do my best. There are three levels to Sheol: Hades, the gate, which we are still in. We've already covered most of that and will be clear of it once we get through the elevator. The elevator only goes down to the Abyss. The Abyss, rightly named, is pitch black in darkness. There is a walkway that encircles the pit beneath it. There are no cells for these prisoners, they just wander around in the dark—forever," Adam said. The more and more he spoke of Sheol the angrier that Cyclops became. It was as if they were trying to create an illusion that they had thrown the mutants into Hell itself.

"That's sick," Cyclops muttered. He kept the rest of his thoughts to himself as they went to the elevator. Then he thought of something. "Palisade, while this part of Sheol is unmanned you should head back to the surface and regroup with Storm. You can't help us and you'll only put yourself in danger."

"Okay. Good luck guys!" he said running towards the entrance. He picked up a gun that a soldier had dropped on his way, just in case.

_Good boy_.

"The last level is called Tartaros or something like that. Named after the deepest level of Hell. They perform all kinds of medical experiments and tortures down there and even execute mutants…"

"Say no more. Just get us there," Cyclops solemnly interrupted. As they turned the corner, some MCA agents armed with powerful rifles had their backs turned. Cyclops instinctively reached for his visor but Shockwave was one step ahead of them. Instead of using one big shockwave, he used several smaller, focused ones in quick succession. While the results weren't as devastating, they were just as effective.

He hoped that they didn't run into any more agents. He couldn't believe that they'd been unlucky enough to have Palisade stripped of his powers. He was their best defense. Now, they were open, vulnerable. They had two heavy-hitters and a technopath. They could cause a lot of damage but had no way of keeping themselves intact. Cyclops didn't like it and was liking it less by the minute.

They found an elevator, which was on some kind of lockdown. No doubt, it was a security measure for intruders that Abaddon didn't control. Adam hadn't shut it down when he dealt with the super-computer.

"Now what?" Shockwave asked. "Do we blow the doors off?"

"We may have to," Cyclops said stepping back, again reaching for his visor.

"Hold it! Brains over brawn here boys! Did you forget that I'm here?" Adam said stretching his hand over the console. He closed his eyes, bobbed his head a little and hummed a tune.

_What the heck_?

The elevator suddenly opened up and welcomed them in.

"See? Now, wasn't that much better than blowing the doors off?" he asked with a smile of satisfaction.

"Let's go," Cyclops replied curtly. They got into the elevator and they hit the bottom level button. Soon they would descend into the Abyss, the deep, dark bottomless pit of Hell where mutants where left to wander aimlessly. Wait, how would they navigate in the dark?

He looked over to ask Adam a question and noticed that he had two flashlights in his hands already.

_Impressive._

The boy didn't miss a beat. He was a little standoffish but at least one of them was looking out for details.

_Let's just hope we don't run into any more Sentinels_.

* * *

The man in black, the Hybrid, parked his car on the side of a road not three miles from the mansion. He stepped out, locked the doors and began to assemble his staff. On completion he positioned his body to aim right towards the mansion and sprinted towards it. Suddenly, he used his staff to pole-vault himself into the air. He ascended into the air at a height high above the trees at a velocity that no human being could do on his own. As he came down and gravity began to take its toll, he kicked off a tree, while putting his staff on its back strap. When he was about to hit the next tree, he flipped his body so that he was flying feet-first and kicked off that tree as well. He continued through the forest like this, a black ball of bouncing mass. He covered the distance of three miles in a matter of forty seconds or so.

_Not bad._

He'd done better before. The further the distance that he had to go the more momentum he could gain and the higher speed he could achieve.

He saw the mansion come into view and he threw himself towards the ground before the brick wall that surrounded it, landed and jumped, using his power to lift him into the air. He flew, nearly a thousand feet in the air, well above the roof of the mansion and came down in an arc, like he'd been catapulted there. He landed soundlessly on the roof.

He circled the perimeter of the roof until he found a balcony to which he jumped down to. He tried to open the window.

_Locked? No problem_.

He pulled out a small tool the size of a pocketknife and pressed a circular, silver button on it. A red laser came out three inches from the devise. He began to remove the pane closest to the lock as he cut through it easily. The beam did not continue to travel, as most would be stayed in its three-inch cage. When the pane was cut away he laid the piece of glass on the balcony and reached in to unlock the window. Stepping into the cool, air-conditioned room he scanned the place for inhabitants.

The brotherhood had provided him with blueprints of the mansion so that he could use them as a map. He had committed the layout of the entire place to memory. How was he supposed to carry around a bunch of photocopies of blueprints anyway?

_Amateurs…no wonder they got caught_.

He stopped and reached into one of his pockets and pulled on a pair of would-be sunglasses. They were actually an expensive pair of goggles that enhanced his vision. They also helped to cover some of his face. There were some people there who he did not want recognizing him.

He was careful, listening for footsteps and voices, moving as quickly and as quietly as possible, just as his master had taught him. He moved with the poise and quickness of a cat, quiet as a whisper. Each movement was fluid and graceful, like black oil flowing freely through the halls of the mansion. He found the hidden elevator, got in and hit the button. He'd only been in the mansion for a little over a minute.

_Too slow_, he scolded himself. He had to be _quick_. He'd didn't want to have to go to the security protocol room and deal with any computers. They were not his forte, as he liked to say. He figured that if he moved fast enough, he could get to Mindflare and Exus in the containment cells, and get out through the emergency tunnel that emptied out into the forest. He'd tried to calculate the time that it would take him to do that, from the car, through the forest, the mansion, the subbasement, the tunnel and back to the car again. He'd overshot a little bit so that he could calculate any unpredicted variables. Even with Exus and Mindflare slowing him down, he could do it in less than seven minutes if he was uninterrupted.

The elevator opened and he turned towards the stockade. He ran, faster than his feet had ever carried him before, using the momentum that he'd stored in his body from before. When he reached the door he slowed down to walk for fear the door would not open in time at the speed he was going. Before he got to the proximity of the automated door, it opened and a young woman, older than him, walked out with tears in her eyes. She was slender, had red hair, and fair skin. She looked up at him with blue eyes of surprise and confusion.

He'd seen her before—somewhere. She looked as if she had seen him somewhere as well, and as if she couldn't quite put her finger on it either.

"Hi. Who are you?" she asked directly.

"I'm Hybrid," he replied with a smile, his slid slyly behind his back, reaching for his staff. He would knock her unconscious at a moment's notice if he needed to. The X-Men knew about him only by a name and a figurehead. They didn't know he actually existed.

"Are you one of the X-Men?" she asked.

"No," he said, surprised at the question. He wished he would've lied and said he was. Then she probably would have just gone on her way. Obviously, she was new to the Xavier Institute. Now, he'd probably have to give her a splitting headache.

"Oh. What are you doing here?"

"I'm an assassin hired to retrieve Mindflare, leader of the Brotherhood and his associate, Exus," there was no point in lying. He was about to hit her in the head hard enough to knock her into next week. She wouldn't remember too much of the conversation anyway. She eyed him down, testing to see if he was serious.

"I…you can't let him out! He's a madman! A murderer!" she protested.

"I don't care. I'm getting paid to do this. Now, get out of my way," he said gripping his staff now, ready to strike.

"I can't let you do this," she said, as if she could do a _thing_ in the world to stop him.

"I'll tell you one more time, _move_," he commanded aggressively. She stood her ground and gulped, obviously afraid. He didn't have time for mercy anymore. He leapt towards her, unsheathing his staff and swung at her head. To his surprise, she vanished in a shadow wisp.

Bewildered, he was ready to look around when he felt a punch to the back of his head. It wasn't very hard, but still unpleasant. She appeared again in front of him, this time in the form of a shadowy spectre. She moved to strike at him but he was too quick. He jabbed her in the stomach with the staff and again, she vanished on impact. Then he felt icy fingers of death wrap themselves around his head and neck. As if the unusual pain wasn't surprising enough, the fear that suddenly overtook him was overwhelming.

It was an emotion he had not felt for a long time, least of all from another person. He was as deadly as mutants came, confident that he could kill anyone. Now, he was trying to pry shadowy ghost fingers from his face. When he touched her hands, his own were riveted with the same pain his neck and face.

He reached for his staff, slipped it over his shoulder between his body and hers. He had no momentum to build on but he was still strong enough to perform the task. He leaned forward and used the staff to fling her over his shoulder. She flew through the air, a black, gray and deep purple mass of fog. Before she hit the wall she became shapeless for a second, in a wispy _poof_. When she rematerialized she was standing upright, in the shadows. When he was ready to strike again, two more shadowy clones of the woman suddenly manifested themselves on either side of her.

_Neat trick…this could take a little longer than I expected_.

* * *

The elevator dinged and opened its door to the Abyss. It was everything that Cyclops imagined it to be—dark and endless. The smell was horrendous as well. It was the smell of dead or dying people covered in their own feces and urine. Cyclops looked over the ledge of the Abyss's walkway. It was something he could have hoped to have never seen in his life. There were hundreds of mutants lying on the ground, standing up, leaning against the wall and whatnot. The mutants looked like the pictures of people in the Holocaust. They were all frail, skinny and sickly looking—like they were on the edge of death. An anger and a hatred for mankind like Cyclops had never known began to well up within his being.

"HELP US!" screamed a mutant from below. They must have guessed that they were mutants too. As important as it was that they hurry, Cyclops could not, with a clear conscious, be in the position he was in and do nothing to save these poor souls from this torment.

"DON'T LEAVE US! HELP!" more desperate pleas echoed off of the concrete walls from below.

"We have to do something," Shockwave broke the silence between them, his voice choked up. Cyclops looked at his face. The young man's face reflected what was going on inside of himself at that moment.

"The longer we stay, the less chance we have of getting out," Adam pointed out.

"Would you leave them here?" Cyclops demanded, not lifting his voice or changing his tone.

"No, I would never leave anyone here for this—not even my enemies. I'm only stating facts," he replied.

"So we help them?" Shockwave asked hopefully.

"Yes," Adam agreed.

"We help them," Cyclops confirmed. "They couldn't have just dropped them down there, none of them would've survived the fall."

"Let's ask them," Adam suggested.

"Good thinking. HEY! HOW DID YOU GET DOWN THERE?" Cyclops shouted.

"There's a door that opens down here, they led us in through that!" one replied. Several others echoed the same report.

"Okay, we have to find that door," Adam said.

"I have a better idea," Shockwave offered.

"What's that?"

"Let's tear some of this walkway apart and make stairs for them," he offered.

"Stairs?"

"Not like _stairs_, but enough rubble for them to climb up to this ledge."

"One problem with that," Adam objected.

"What?"

"They won't all fit into this elevator and it'll take an hour for them to take it to the Hades gate and get out of here to go up in groups. They'll kill each other trying to get in," he raised his eyebrows and made a face that told the terrible truth.

"They can take the stairs," Shockwave threw his hands up.

"What stairs?"

"Those!" he pointed with a flashlight to a staircase to the left of them. The staircase gave an upward, diagonal arrow to show that they went up. The word 'surface' was also posted on the sign.

"Alright, let's get to it," Cyclops said, reaching for his visor.

* * *

"I'm telling you now, you don't want to be in my way," Hybrid said, taunting Lindsey. He was quicker and much better trained than her, but in the shadows she had the advantage over him. She hoped that he wouldn't figure out about her limitations and weakness to the light. There, she'd have no way to defend herself. As long as they stayed by the door of the stockade she could manage to keep the upper hand.

He swung his staff at one of the shadow spectres. While he was busy with one she had the other charge him while she made two more. It was a perfect hit and she was wearing him down, blow by blow.

"You're really starting to piss me off!" he said then he moved with such impossible speed, she had no time to react. The staff connected to the side of her head with brute force. Even in her shadow form she was knocked back. He came for another attack at her feet but in anticipation she jumped in the air and lunged herself towards him, once again wrapping her fingers around his neck. In surprise, he dropped the staff and grabbed for her arms in resistance. He wrestled with her and she couldn't keep her hold because he was stronger than her.

She began to flail and punch aimlessly at his face and chest. Each blow made a wispy sound as her shadow energy pummeled him. He returned her onslaught with a punch of his own to her face. She bounced back like a rag doll and lost her balance for his opportune moment. All she saw was a whirl of black and a boot; all she felt was her jaw being kicked. She slammed against the wall and then he tripped her to the ground. She was laying face up and on her back. He looked like a giant now, towering over her ominously. Involuntarily, she'd been knocked out of her shadow form. She felt him grab her by her hair and yank her violently to her feet.

Before he could strike her she turned into her shadow form and brought her foot up behind her and into his groin. She spun and gave him a backhand to the cheek. Without relenting she struck again and again pushing him back against the wall. At the moment he seemed to be able to retaliate, she summoned one shadow spectre after another to hit him and hard. She couldn't believe how many she was controlling simultaneously. There were eight of them striking him with full force.

All of this was much more than she had ever thought herself capable.

_BOOM!_

The noise and the light were beyond pain. It put her in a daze that she didn't think she'd ever recover from. He had to have ignited some kind of grenade. All of her spectres were instantly eliminated and she could no longer go into her shadow form. She felt and uppercut to the chin and she hit the ground unconscious.

* * *

Shockwave watched as the prisoners still clinging to life climbed up the massive mountain of concrete rubble to get to their freedom. There were still hundreds alive, scrambling to the stairs for their chance to breath fresh air again.

_Is this how Moses felt when he freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt_?

His first mission had not been at all what he'd expected it to. Everything seemed to be going wrong and all kinds of variables that they'd never thought to include into the equation were popping up all over the place. There was a new feeling there for him now—he liked it. He liked the action, he liked the combat and he liked doing what was right. Watching as the last of them scrambled to freedom, he, Cyclops and Adam made their way to another set of stairs. This set of stair would take them into Tartaros—the deepest level of Hell.

He remembered in the Bible that God had reserved that part of Hell for fallen angels damned and locked away for eternity. What kind of sick people would design a prison for someone based on the torments of Hell? A thousand thoughts scrambled past his head as he took the stair two at a time going further than the Pit, further than the Abyss. He was ready to strike at any MCA death dealer who crossed his pass. He couldn't find it in himself to show any mercy to them. What they had done was so unforgivable.

He'd wondered if he was cut out to be an X-Man. He'd haphazardly made the cut by sticking a uniform on and blasting one guy who wasn't looking. He'd had the least training of _anyone_ on the entire team. He was so nervous when he was picked for this mission but now—he was glad. He hoped he got to go on many more missions to preserve and rescue mutantkind. No longer would he be satisfied on the sidelines.

_God, put my life in Your hands. Use me like a hammer of judgment to strike down those who would commit such horrible crimes. Use the strength you've given me as a bowl of wrath for the wicked to drink._


	22. Tartaros

The man in black, the Hybrid looked down at his attacker. She was unconscious now, and no longer a threat. He was out of breath and felt like he was on the verge of a panic attack. Whatever her power was it was terrible. That was the only word that he could think of that was appropriate enough to describe it. She was like some sort of ghost or demon in the shadows, able to summon the minions of Hell at will. Whenever her shadow energy came in contact with him it cause him pain like he'd never felt before. It wasn't so much in severity, though it was severe, but in its uniqueness. On top of it all, it had provoked him to fear. He hadn't been afraid of anything or anyone in a long time, but the girl on the floor nearly scared the life out of him.

_No matter…keep your mind on the mission._

He went into the stockade and turned the corner to see that his targets occupied the first two cells. He smiled as he walked up to the cell with Mindflare in it and pushed the button labeled, 'intercom.'

"Why hello there, Mindflare. Did you get yourself in a little bind?" Hybrid asked. As he finished, he reached over and hit the release button. He was pleasantly surprised to see that there was no password or any kind of security to letting someone out; it was all done by the touch of a button.

Mindflare walked out casual, icy and gracefully. He gave a smug smile but other than that, he gave no signs of a caged bird set free.

"Many thanks to you, Hybrid," he said giving him a nod as he made his way over to Exus's cell. Without saying anything to her through the intercom, he opened her cell and allowed her to make her way out.

"It's about damned time!" she grumbled as she came out. Her entire demeanor changed when she looked at Hybrid. She looked him over, head to toe and smiled. "You're a lot younger than I thought you'd be."

"Most people who meet me usually don't have the chance to tell anyone how young I look. As much as I'd like to sit and chat—we really need to be getting out of here as soon as possible," he admitted.

"Lead the way," Mindflare smiled and gave a hand motion for Hybrid.

"Let's go."

* * *

They had found the other staircase easily enough. As they descended into the bottom levels of Sheol, Adam had expected to open up Tartaros and it to be a hellish dungeon of torture and evil. Instead, it was plain, white and well lit. It looked like a hospital. They may there way to the end of the hall to find a small, unmanned security station and a metal detector.

"We don't need anymore bells or whistles than we already have," Adam said. He waved his hands and dove into the simple machine. He easily disabled it and they walked through without setting off any alarm. They came to a door and it didn't open when they came into proximity.

"What's the problem?" Shockwave asked.

"It could be a number of things. One, Tartaros isn't controlled by Abaddon, two, Abaddon has found a way to reboot and has gained control of the complex again, three, someone has hit the manual override switch from the other side which allows the door to only be opened from that side," Adam explained.

"What do you think it is?" Cyclops asked.

"I'm pretty confident that Abaddon controls all of Sheol and if he were back online right now, we'd be dead. I'm going to say option three: someone hit the manual override switch," he replied.

"What's the solution?"

"The quickest way would be for one of you to blow it open or…" before he could say the second option, Shockwave obliterated the metal sliding door. While it was not the way that Adam would've handled it, he had to give the kid props for being able to unhinge something so big and secure. "…I could use my power to re-override the door. But your way seems to work fine so let's go."

"Sorry," Shockwave apologized.

"Doesn't put the door back on its hinges. Anyway, it's fine. Let me open the rest of them, we won't make so much ruckus and reveal our location," Adam suggested.

"Good idea," Cyclops agreed and sealed the COA. They continued to walk through what seemed to be a place for medical experimentation. There were labs with open widows that exposed tables with blood and missing limbs. There were jars filled with organs and some even had bodies, blood seeping out of their wounds, covered in white sheets to no doubt show that they were dead. It looked like something out of a horror movie.

"What the hell did they do here?" Cyclops asked in disgust.

"Medical experimentation, biological torture, viral testing, bacteria exposure, radiation therapy for those who don't need radiation or chemo-therapy—the works."

"Evil," Shockwave summed it all up. "What they're doing here is evil. Are there other compounds like this one?"

"Not like this one. There are other compounds that house Abaddon as its security protocol but there isn't a place on the earth that I know of like Sheol. This place is pretty one of a kind."

"Is there a self-destruct system here?" Shockwave asked grimly.

"Yes, actually there is. As soon as we activate it, we have five minutes to get away from here…not a lot of time," Adam was going to protest the idea, since he knew where Shockwave was going with the whole thing.

"Then we need to free those who are still alive here, activate it and get out ourselves," Cyclops said. Adam could not believe his ears. As if the mission weren't suicidal enough you had to throw gigantic explosions in it as well.

_Wonderful_.

"You realize that five minutes will not be enough to scale all of those stairs _and_ take an elevator _and _make our way through Hades again," he pointed out grimly. He wanted to stamp his foot and protest but he'd already seen enough to know that once either of these two made up their minds there was no negotiating. He might as well talk what little bit of sense he could into them.

"Nightcrawler and Shadowcat will be able to get us to the surface long before we have to worry about the explosion," Cyclops assured. "You can head back now if you want."

"You're going need me to open all of these cells. Even though the two of you could knock all of the doors down it'll take ten times as long if I just access the system that controls them and open them all," Adam said. He said it with as much belligerence as he could muster. Cyclops was trying to get rid of him as soon as need of him expired. It wasn't as if Adam _didn't_ want to help the prisoners or activate the self-destruct sequence. All he was trying to do was point out the facts that if they proceeded with that particular course of action they might has well sign their own death certificates.

"Okay then, let's go," Cyclops said. It didn't take them long to find a console. Adam was completely surprised that they'd run into no guards, Sentinels or _anything_ to interrupt them since Hades. He began to run through the console information and searched the names Nightcrawler and Shadowcat. There was nothing.

"What are your friends' real names?" he asked.

"Katherine Pryde and Kurt Wagner."

Adam began another search and had results in seconds. He quickly uploaded the layout of Tartaros in his head. He cursed aloud when he saw how far away they were. They couldn't be further away from them. There was a labyrinth of cells, hallways, stairs and medical research rooms they had to navigate through in order to get to them. The distance was about two miles total, even if they used their powers to make another 'beeline' to them. They couldn't do that without hurting some poor soul asleep in his cell. It would be even further if they navigated the beehive of rooms in Tartaros. He explained the situation to them.

"What do you think that we should do?" Cyclops asked.

"There is no way that we can take the time that it will take to find our way there. We can't blast our way there because we'll have to go right through innocent mutants' cells. We're going to have to find a way to release them all and then try to find them in a huge angry mob of mutants running for their lives…not pretty."

"We can't release them out of the cells because they don't know we're coming. They will go straight to the surface without us and we'll never get out of here," Cyclops said.

"How fast can they get to the surface?" Shockwave asked curiously, obviously wanting to be a part of the conversation.

"Shadowcat can take us all the way to the surface in a matter of seconds," Cyclops explained.

_Seconds?_ Adam was dying to see that. They were miles underground.

"How?" Shockwave mirrored his disbelief.

"Her power. She—take my word for it, we don't have time to explain. Okay, we're going have to play both sides of this coin. Can you release the prisoners from their cells from this computer?"

"Yes."

"Okay, can you select against their cells so that they are the only ones who are not released?" Cyclops asked.

"You want me to _keep_ them in their cells?"

"So that that don't run away, yes," he replied.

"I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Gambit stepped off of the elevator and into the subbasement. He had a few of the Jr. X-Men with him. He was their substitute for the Danger Room session since Storm and Cyclops were both on a mission. He didn't like playing the teacher role…it just wasn't him. Though he defended all of his 'eccentricities' as a part of him, he knew that some of them weren't exactly suited to be teaching or mentoring anyone. He had a hard time even remembering their names—except for Markas and that was because he'd caused him a big headache a while ago in their fight. He looked behind him to see the group. It was only four of them. Apparently, they did the Danger Room sessions in smaller groups everyday and in larger groups twice a week. He pulled out his cheat sheet for names and looked it over.

_Hypno…that's Markas…let's see…Stardust, Vortex…ah the cocky one…and Lifestream…the healer. This won't be too bad._

"Okay, Hypno?" he decided to pretend he had just as much trouble with one name as he did with another so that he didn't single anyone out.

"Yeah," he said. He was smiling and joking around with the blonde girl—Stardust. It was clear he didn't have his full attention. He'd have to keep going anyway.

"Okay, you're the team leader so I'm just going to ask you. Before I start, let me just admit to you guys that I don't like doing this part of the job…I don't mind martial arts training and what not but…anyway, I'm off focus. What kind of session do you do in the Danger Room…I mean obviously small group but what?" he sounded like a babbling buffoon. They'd own him now that they knew he wasn't suited for the job—like he did to all of his substitute teachers when he was a kid.

_This is gonna be bad_.

"Our progress reports are updated daily and Beast sets the levels for us. We're team one. All you have to do is upload us on the computer and start it up. The difficulty levels and scenario are set," the cute blonde girl replied. He looked at Markas for confirmation. Of all of these kids, Gambit knew Markas—Hypno—was best suited to be an X-Man. After all, look at his private teacher. Markas shrugged as if he didn't know anymore than Gambit.

_Wonderful_.

"Okay that's what we'll do then. Let's head to the Danger Room," he announced. As they turned the corner, one of the new girls, not even an X-Man yet, the one with red hair like Jean's came stumbling, broken and bloody from around the corner that led to the stockade.

"They're…gonna get away! You have to…stop them…ugh…" she fell to the floor. Gambit rushed to her side and held her up. He didn't need to ask who was going to 'get away', for he knew full well.

"What'd you do? Who?" he demanded holding her up in his arms. She looked into his eyes, with tears in her own.

"Mindflare…he came to get Mindflare," she breathed.

"WHO?" he demanded.

"Hybrid," she said and she went limp in his arms.

"Healer girl! Come here and get her back to new! Uh…Lifestream!" he said. The shy, brunette girl came over to the red-head and stretched out her hands over her. A glowing, white light, emitted from her hands on onto the girls body. Suddenly she jerked to consciousness and began to claw and fight, screaming in agony.

"STOP! It burns! IT BURNS!" she fought to get away from Gambit's grasp and from underneath Lifestream's power. She scattered away to the floor and found a spot in the hallway where there was a shadow. She morphed into her shadow form and stayed like that, as if that were her only way to recuperate.

"Did you say the Hybrid was here?" Gambit asked, hopeful she was wrong, doubtful that she was.

"That's what he called himself: Hybrid. He's come to get Mindflare…I don't know, he might've already done it. You have to stop him," her voice was different. It sounded…_shadowy_. It sounded like a raspy whisper, but it you could hear a little of her normal voice behind it…as if she were speaking with two of them simultaneously.

"Markas, contact the other senior X-Men and tell them to get down here now. Take your team upstairs and be on your guard for anything. If you see them trying to escape, stop them," Gambit suddenly felt himself taking charge. Teaching might be Hell, but combat was cake.

"Okay. You heard him guys, head upstairs. Tell the other X-Men to post themselves around the mansion at windows and exits. Go!" Markas, normally so lax also seemed to shine in combat situations.

_War changes people, Remy_. He could steal hear the old professor's voice from the grave.

"Wait! Take me to some place dark…someplace with no light…please," begged the red head from the corner.

"I'll take her," the cocky kid volunteered.

"No, _we'll_ take her. C'mon Lisa," the blonde said and the two of them went to help the girl to her feet. "It's okay Lindsey, we'll take care of you." They took her arm in arm and loaded her in the elevator. The cocky kid, trying to be the knight in shining armor, put a hand on the girl's shoulder. Gambit rolled his eyes.

_Just like me_.

Markas still stood before him. They had not so much as spoken a word to each other since the fight. Things had been kind of awkward considering they'd tried to kill each other. He didn't know what to say to him, even now.

"I can stay with you until the others get here," he offered. It wasn't a bad idea.

_Especially with Mindflare going around and messing with peoples' minds—bastard…_

"How well can you guard against Mindflare's power?" he asked, straight up.

"I'm not as powerful as he is, but I can keep him out of our heads long enough for you to knock him around a little bit," he replied.

"Good…it's not him I'm worried about so much. We'd better pray that girl was wrong about who's here," Gambit's tone was grim.

"Who's the Hybrid?"

"He is said to the be the most deadly mutant assassin alive. They say he's killed hundreds of people, mutant and human alike. I always thought he was just a myth…like a ghost story a bad uncle tells kids. If he's here, we may not survive this," Gambit said. Markas's eyes widened.

_Notre père dans le ciel, creusé soit votre nom_, he caught himself making his peace with God again. He was a thousand times more fearful of the Hybrid then he ever was Sentinels. This was going to be a fun ride.

* * *

"GET DOWN!" Adam felt a little bit of déjà vu as the Sentinels approached again. He ducked behind a computer console as machine gun fire exploded noisily through the room. He had been so occupied with the computer console, giving all of his concentration to that, he'd barely noticed them in time. Shockwave and Cyclops hit the ground and ducked behind a table and chairs to keep from getting lacerated by the array of bullets. He was the only one who could do something quick enough. He knew the Sentinel programming so he knew what kind of wave to hit them with that would throw them off kilter.

They were in the same room with them now and the table was suddenly overturned, exposing Shockwave and Cyclops to the onslaught of bullets. A pinkish red blast erupted from Cyclops's visor and one of the Sentinels flew through the wall. More of them were coming in and they couldn't fight them all. Adam began to conjure a wave that would pause them long enough to do some reconfiguration. He just hoped the wave would be faster than their bullets.

He came from around the console and sent a technopathic wave towards them. They jerked and made all kinds of mechanical noises but his goal was achieved, they weren't firing machine guns anymore. He went to work, as quick as he could, one at a time rewiring, reconfiguring. He had to use a synthetic EMP (electromagnetic pulse) to keep the others from going online again.

Shockwave and Cyclops didn't say anything while Adam was messing with the Sentinels—good thing too. Something as hardcore as reconfiguring their mission parameters took a great deal of concentration. Within five minutes or so, all of them were rewired and reconfigured. They were ready to do his bidding now, instead of the MCA's. The coiled up into their basketball-size forms and rolled down the hall.

"What'd you do?" Shockwave asked.

"Changed their mission parameters to seek out a new target," he replied.

"Do I need to ask what targets?" Shockwave asked with a grin, knowing the answer.

"Let's just say all of the MCA and other Sentinel's have a little surprise coming their way," Adam grinned.

"What's your progress on letting the rest of the mutants here loose?" Cyclops asked, changing the subject.

"Almost there…" Adam said, closing his eyes and diving back into the console.

* * *

They at the entrance of one of the emergency escape tunnels in the subbasement. They were home free when an explosion of pain erupted in Hybrid's back. Mindflare and Exus hit the ground, but he was able to spin and hold his ground. He immediately unsheathed and assembled his staff. He turned to face one of the X-Men, Gambit, if he remembered correctly, charging playing cards with kinetic energy and throwing them. Three of them flew consecutively through the air at Hybrid but he used his staff to deflect them.

The explosions were heatless but he could feel the concussive force of them as they exploded. He parried another set of charged cards with his staff as he advanced towards his opponent. From his peripheral vision he saw Exus and Mindflare getting to their feet.

"Go! Get out of here!" Hybrid said. Even if he couldn't deliver them to the Brotherhood, he'd still be handsomely rewarded for allowing him to escape. They did as they were told and now, it was just him and Gambit. Apparently, he was done throwing cards and pulled out a bo staff of his own.

_Interesting coincidence._

In a whirl, Hybrid spiral jumped towards Gambit and attempted to slash him in the skull with his staff. He easily parried the attack and countered with some maneuvers of his own. Though Gambit probably equaled his skill as a fighter, he could not match his speed, and Hybrid knew this.

He whirled his body again, dropping to the floor and thrusting his staff into Gambit's chin. Before his body felt the effects, his feet were out from underneath him. Hybrid jumped in the air, while Gambit's body was still horizontal in the air and slammed his staff into his chest, barreling him to the floor. He'd used his power to make his target weightless for only a moment in time, which made him bounce off of the floor and into the air again. Hybrid gave him a kick, once again making his body as weightless as air itself. Gambit flew down the hall and Hybrid pursued him even faster. Expecting to deal him a finishing blow, he brought his staff over his head, made his own body weightless and jumped in the air, ready to crack down on Gambit's head.

Suddenly Gambit's staff was wedged into the ceiling and he was spinning around it like an acrobat. Before Hybrid could react he felt two boots kick him hard, with strength and momentum in the chest. He'd not deactivated his power yet, so he was still weightless…which made him fly through the air like a rag doll. He smashed into the wall behind him, bouncing off of it and skittered across the floor. He was up as quickly as he'd gone down.

"You didn't think it was going to be that easy did you, _mon ami_?" he said, spreading his accent thick within his speech.

_This is gonna be a long day_.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with," Hybrid taunted, and he whirled down the hallway again, with only one feat in mind: destroy.

* * *

"The self-destruct sequence has been activated. This system cannot be aborted. All personal please leave your stations and evacuate the facility immediately," said a digital, male, recorded voice from speakers all over the complex. They were working their way through hordes of mutants, trying desperately to get to the two, side-by-side cells that would take them to their friends. They had mere minutes before the place would explode and be rendered to only ashes.

Cyclops didn't have a problem shoving people out of the way to get to where he needed to be. When Adam had discovered that there were emergency elevators _all over_ the facility that would open only when the self-destruct system was online Cyclops had him go ahead and trip it. The mutants would be able to take the lightning fast elevators to the surface and get plenty far enough away from Sheol before it was destroyed.

He could only hope that they'd find the cells in time to free Nightcrawler and Shadowcat and make to the surface before the timer ran out.


	23. The Drums of War

_PzzzftCRACK!_

The sound of Gambit's kinetically charge staff, smashing hard against the Hybrid's, created a small boom that echoed around the halls of the subbasement. He was one of the fastest moving mutants Gambit had ever encountered. With the exception of mutants whose mutation was enhanced speed, this guy had them all beat. Gambit had heard of the Hybrid, thought him a myth, and had been proven wrong. He thought that he was just a legend among the crime society—a 'ghost story' so to speak that they told each other.

"If you cheat this guy, he'll hire the Hybrid to come and get ya," would be something one would say for such an occasion. Now, Gambit looked legend in the eye and fought with it.

Though his eyes were hidden behind large black sunglasses, it was not hard for him to see how young he was. That was surprising too. He was so quick, agile and well trained—like a warrior seasoned by age and experience. He could not have been more than eighteen years old. Gambit, at the ripe young age of thirty-four was in the best shape he'd ever been in and the Hybrid was working him over.

_PzzzftCRACK! PzzzftCRACK-pzzzftCRACK!_

One staff slash came after another. Gambit didn't have any time to counter now, with as fast as the battle was going. All he could do was block, parry and dodge. He felt himself being worked backwards by Hybrid's raw, unrelenting aggression. He saw the staff coming down from above, aimed towards his head and Gambit blocked, putting his own staff horizontal above his head. For a split second, his body was undefended; a split second was all that it took.

The kick he was dealt to the gut was enough to knock the wind out of him and send him stumbling backwards, off guard once again. He saw the sideways slash coming and blocked. Another one-two horizontal slash combo—blocked and blocked again. Without warning, he endured another blow to the solar plexus, this time from the staff. He felt the hard staff smash into his chin, an uppercut. He was dazed and off balance only for a second and, once again, that was all that the Hybrid needed to give him another unholy blow.

The slash to the side of the head was deafening. His ears were ringing and he was seeing stars. He could already feel the throbbing pulse of blood booming in his head where he'd been hit. He had to get his edge back or he was going to die, that was all that there was to it. He reached into his sleeve and sneakily as he could, pulling out his cheater hand—a royal flush. He charged them hard and flung them in a vertical arc towards Hybrid. Hybrid seemed to anticipate the attack, blocking most of the cards with his staff but was not able to get them all.

An explosion at his hip and ribs gave him his turn to stumble backwards with his guard down. Gambit wasted no time. With all the wrath and anger built up from being pummeled and humiliated by someone nearly half his age, he unleashed a furious series of attacks. Hybrid began to block but was still too bewildered to fight at one hundred percent. Every window of opportunity that presented itself, Gambit snuck in an attack, even if he was hitting an elbow or a hip.

He charged his staff with energy and came down with a slash aimed at Hybrid's skull. He was able to block but his staff snapped in half at the crushing blow of the kinetic energy. They continued in their fight, Hybrid now using twin kali sticks instead of his Bo staff. They twirled and danced their battle up and down the hall, kicking, flipping, and head-butting their way. One of them would have to give soon, and neither one was prepared to back down. The entire battle had lasted a little over a minute, Gambit knew, but he felt as if they'd been fighting for an eternity. It wouldn't be long before reinforcements came and helped him.

However much Gambit hated to admit it, he knew that Hybrid would eventually get the best of him. He was too quick, too agile and too ferocious. His face was ever calm, cool and collective while they were fighting. Gambit had to deliberately regulate his breathing and try to keep sweat from pouring into his eyes.

They stood, fifteen feet from each other, poised and ready to strike but neither making a move.

"Getting tired old man?" Hybrid taunted with a smirk.

"Actually I'm disappointed," Gambit admitted.

"Oh? How so?"

"I expected a lot more from the legendary Hybrid. You're just a punk kid with a stick."

"Well this punk kid with a stick is going to be the last thing that you ever get to see in this life, _mon ami_," he gripped his staff tighter, until his knuckles turned white. Gambit did the same. The next skirmish would be the last between them and Gambit could only hope that he'd still be standing when the dust settled.

* * *

"One minute until detonation. This system cannot be aborted. All personnel please evacuate the facility," the robotic voice gave continual updates on how close they were to being blown to smithereens. 

_We're trapped in a prison named after the worst levels of Hell trying to rescue people some of us have never met and get out before it explodes in an inferno. This so OH DEAR!_

They had gotten past the mob of frantic mutants trying desperately to make their way to the elevators but were having a little bit of trouble finding the cells. This was more than enough to make Shockwave nervous. In fact, nervous didn't quite touch what he was feeling. Fear, panic going into 'stare-land' summed it up a little better. They were running through the hall, blasting away the occasional Sentinel that crossed their path, whether they were reprogrammed or not. When a killer robot armed with a machine gun crosses your path, you kill it.

"We've got one minute to get out of this place," he started to assess the situation out loud.

"Yes, thank you we have ears; we can hear the announcement just fine," Adam shot back.

"Well, stating the obvious or not we are _still_ here and can't find a way out. What if they're not alive? What if they've been executed?" he asked grimly. Adam returned his sentiment and shot a look at Cyclops.

"Well then, you'd better make your peace with God, church-boy," Cyclops shot back bitterly. Any other time, Shockwave would've called him out on such derogatory blast on his faith, but now, unfortunately was not the time.

"Church-boy?" Adam clearly felt the necessity to ask at that moment what Cyclops meant. There couldn't be any harm in sharing the faith now.

"I'm a Christian—and he's talking down to me about it," he explained as quickly as possible.

"Oh," Adam nodded awkwardly as if it were something he wasn't prepared to discuss.

"We here. Adam, work your magic on these doors!" Cyclops ordered.

"This is the one time I'd prefer to do things your way," Adam objected, looking at the two of them. Cyclops hit the intercom.

"Kurt! It's me! Stand away from the door!" he yelled. Shockwave could only figure that person in the next cell was Shadowcat. How did Cyclops know who was in which cell? How in the world did that matter at that second?

_Just GO!_

He hit the intercom.

"Shadowcat, my name is Shockwave and I'm here to rescue you. Stay away from the door I'm going to knock it down," he warned. He didn't wait for a reply and gave her about three seconds to comply with what he said. He pressed his hands against the door and gave a medium-strength _boom_. The door went barreling through the room and crushed the bed that was there. It smelled like a hospital in there.

A short, small-framed woman in her late twenties came running out. She had long brown hair past her shoulders, blue eyes and freckles across her face. She didn't have a very good look on her face; she reflected the panic that Shockwave was feeling right then.

She ran over to him, grabbed him and kissed him on the mouth. She only held the kiss for a little more than a second, not long enough for him to return the sentiment, but long enough to take his breath away.

"Thanks a bunch now let's get the hell outta here!" she said walking over to other cell. Now, standing between Cyclops and Adam was a midnight blue demon. That was the only way that he could think to describe him such short notice. He had blue skin and fur, pointed ears, yellow eyes and too-long tail behind him. He only had three digits on his hands and feet. He looked muscular, built like a dancer or gymnast.

"Guten Abend, friend. My name is Kurt Wagner but in the Munich circus I was known as: The Incredible Nightcrawler!" he announced with pride.

Joy…a blue circus demon…as if my day couldn't become more of a stare… 

"That's…great," he didn't know what to say.

"Okay, we'll have time for happy reunions later…in the meantime, Shadowcat, can you take us to the surface?" Cyclops asked.

"Lemme make sure my powers are working," she said and she stuck her hand through a wall as if she were a ghost. "Wonderful. Boys, let's hold hands."

As the robotic voice was counting down from thirty seconds until the whole place when up in smoke, they obeyed, not having time ask questions. As soon as they were all conjoined, Shockwave felt his body begin to change. He felt lighter and—different.

"For you first-timers: you might wanna close your eyes and hold your breath," she warned as the hallway's ceiling began to get bigger. No, they were passing _through_ the floor. He instinctively wanted to let go and freak out but he knew that staying would result in certain death. Soon their vision was completely stifled by what was in front of them. He couldn't tell what direction they were moving but could tell that they were indeed moving.

It was hard to tell if they were passing through the dirt and the stone or if the stone and dirt were passing through them. He didn't really care at that point, he just knew that it was the most uncomfortable feeling he'd ever felt. He took a breath and it tasted like dirt, he even had little particles on his tongue. Was it possible to breath underground? He held the breath and shut his eyes and felt himself float around, moving at what felt like eight miles an hour or so. He couldn't be sure and didn't want to know. He was still glad to be out of Sheol however.

Suddenly he felt his feet on solid ground. He opened his eyes and saw that they were outside the concrete barrier surrounding Sheol. There were flashes of lightning, a steady downpour, and roaring wind—no doubt Storm's handy work. The X-Jet was waiting for them in the distance. It probably looked much further than it actually was because of the rain and wind.

"GO!" Cyclops ordered. They began to make their way through the wind and the rain, which was sometimes violent enough to make them stumble awry, going in a direction they never intended. Although sure that there was a good reason for Storm to create such extravagant weather, he couldn't see the point in it in that second.

The jet was a lot closer than it looked. 'In the distance' probably wasn't a good way to look at it. Still, they ran up the ramp as if the building behind them were going to suddenly explode and strapped themselves in. Before they could all find their seats, Storm had them airborne and flying as far away from Sheol as they could get.

There was a low, booming rumble behind them, different from the thunderclaps that the weather had created. No doubt that Sheol, the Bottomless Pit, was in ruins, never again to surface. They'd all managed to make it out alive as well. Some of them had come closer to death than others, but it excited Shockwave. His newfound courage in himself and acceptance of his destiny drove him only further to fight the MCA and anyone who would support anti-mutant sentiments that would allow such evil things to take place as in Sheol.

If America had places like that, prisons that allowed torture, execution without a trial and medical experimentation on mutation than what did other countries hold? While he didn't want to think about it, he couldn't allow himself to ignore it any longer. He would do all that he could do to aid mutantkind in this war that was coming on—no longer just a man and a mutant, but a soldier in the greatest war that Earth's soil had ever hosted.

* * *

Every movement was a blur—spinning, kicking, slashing, flipping, dodging, blocking. None of it was a conscious, deliberate effort for either one of them. Instead, pure instinct took over. They'd both been so well trained for combat, it would seem that they were each other's match. The wounds began to pile up on Gambit as well as on Hybrid. Every now and again, one of them would be able to sneak in a vicious attack leaving the other with an unholy bruise and throbbing pain. 

He couldn't last much longer, he knew. Every muscle ached, his head throbbed and soon sweat would trickle into his eyes, giving him a sting that would cut his visibility in half—not something he could afford at this moment.

_Where is everyone?_

He knew the answer. No one had got there yet because the battle had only lapsed a little over a minute. He could try to wait it out, try to conserve his strength until they got there. Hybrid wouldn't give him an inch of leeway and it appeared that he was just fine.

_Where does he get the energy?_

Gambit did his best to block another barrage of attacks: a side-slash, one-two side-slash, downward slash, upward slash, thrust. It was too much; for every one attack Gambit was able to pull off, Hybrid was able to do three or four in the same amount of time. He was faster than Gambit to begin with and with the relentless attacks, Gambit was getting slower by the second; things were beginning to look bleak.

Gambit made a bold move; he leaped forward, spinning his staff and barreled into Hybrid without warning, hoping that it would be enough to knock him on the ground. That would've given Gambit precious few seconds to catch his breath and hope that his friends were going to come around the corner soon.

Hybrid stumbled backwards and went down on the ground hard. He rolled backwards and kicked Gambit's staff upward. Gambit was only using one hand to hold the staff at that moment. In a flash, he felt both bones in his forearm snap as Hybrid slashed him hard and at the precise angle. Involuntarily the staff clattered to the floor in a metallic _clang_.

Hybrid seemed to move faster than his eyes could process. He saw a black blur and heard the whoosh of him moving past him. His knees suddenly gave way from an unexpected blow. He felt to them hard, certainly bruising them. He used one arm to cradle the other, the rest of his body undefended. He was helpless, not a position he'd often known.

He heard the metallic _shick-shick_ of a knife being unsheathed. Gambit would know the sound anywhere. It was the sound of a butterfly knife being undone. So that was how he was going to meet his end: at the end of a razor sharp butterfly knife in the hands of a kid-assassin with more power than he knew what to do with.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw the other hand, in a black, fingerless glove, come around the right side of his head. Indeed it was holding a black handled butterfly knife and the edge looked sharp enough to shave with. He was looking on at the hallway from where his help would come from if he'd only been able to survive for a few seconds more. He'd failed again. First he failed allowing Mindflare to take him alive and rearrange his mind. Against his will or not, he probably was responsible for the lives of countless people. Now, he couldn't prevent an assassin from breaking the most criminally insane person out of such a secure location as the X-Mansion. He was a failure, everything he touched turned to ash, as of late.

_It seems you've finally lost your stroke of good luck, Remy_.

He felt the blade press to his throat. It seemed appropriate to close his eyes, so he avoided the temptation. It all seemed to be happening so slowly. Time was so disproportionate for the event. He felt the small hairs on the back of his neck begin to stand up. It was probably a sensation that one got from knowing how close they were to someone trying to kill them. He looked ahead to see Jean Grey come around the corner with a determined look on her face. She raised her hand as if to let out a telekinetic wave and the hand on his shoulder disappeared. The knife split the skin on his neck and he grasped for it as the butterfly knife fell to the floor. He pulled his fingers away and saw that there was only a trickle of blood. He had been saved.

* * *

"He's getting away!" Jean yelled as she, Beast, Jubilee, Iceman and Rogue pursued him. He had run away, in a flash, to the first door available to him and it just so happened to be the hangar. 

"Are you alright?" she heard Rogue ask Gambit as they quickly assessed his wounds. He looked like he'd been to Hell and back. She already searched his mind and discovered the intense battle he'd just had with…no…it couldn't be.

_The Hybrid!_

That was who Markas had said that it was, but Jean couldn't believe it. She'd always thought him a myth…a mutant ghost story. Gambit was fine; the knife had barely broken the skin and severed a few surface capillaries.

She could still sense the brain wave of the Hybrid as we got further and further away from them. He only had one thought in mind, purely instinctive depending on his circumstances: escape. Legend, myth, reality or man, the Hybrid had just released Mindflare from his cell and had escaped.

"He's in the hangar and the only way to exit is if you're in the X-Jet. Let's get him, X-Men," she said. They let Gambit remain where he was and they marched towards the hangar, ready for anything.

* * *

Hybrid stood in the middle of the huge room, which much have housed a huge vehicle—a plane or something. He'd bounced around like a bullet trying to find means of escape, a ventilation shaft, an elevator, or a door but found nothing. He would have to fight them all. Whatever it was that they threw his way he would defeat. He'd never been beaten. Today was the closest he'd ever come to even fighting a worthy opponent with the girl and with Gambit. 

His back was turned against the door when he heard it open. He turned to see five X-Men come in, none of them suited up and armored. There were five of them: three women, a man and a monster. They approached him in the center of the room and he reached cleverly behind his belt for the tranquilizer throwing darts he always kept handy. He only had three, but it was worth the chance that he might hit some of them.

"You've got nowhere to go, put the stick down and we'll talk," the red-headed one, the telekine, commanded. It was not the kind of offer that left him coming out ahead and that was something that just would not do.

"How about this, allow me safe passage out of this place, and I won't make an embarrassment out of your team," he said brandishing his staff haughtily.

"I'm afraid that's out of the question," the red head replied grimly. He cleared his mind, thought of nothing, putting up psychic barriers that could keep even formidable telepaths out of his head. He couldn't have her reading his thoughts, his entire strategy depended on his being able to surprise his opponents with what he was going to do.

The woman looked troubled, as if she was having difficulty doing something—trying to break through his mind, no doubt. He had been trained much better than that.

"I know you'll keep trying even if I tell you that my mind cannot be broken, so try if you must. I guarantee your failure. Now, I'm feeling merciful today, so if you let me go uninterrupted, I won't kill any of you," he taunted again. He knew that he was going to have to fight them, but he had to let them know that he was not scared of them in the least. He was completely prepared to take on all five of them, regardless of mutation or class thereof.

"I don't think you're going anywhere, my boy," the blue, furry monster spoke.

_Enough talk…let's do this_.

Moving as smooth and fluid as oil, he threw the darts forward and began to run straight to his enemies, only slightly slower than the darts he'd thrown. The telekine stopped them all, but her concentration was completely consumed by that task. He used his staff to pole vault over her and land behind her. He gave her a blow to the skull she'd not soon forget. He whipped his staff in a circle as the monster and the man leapt for him. Every time he felt his staff make contact he used his power to make them weightless, giving him the strength that he need to fling them about. It also gave the illusion that he was incredibly strong.

One woman suddenly burst into flames and tried to engulf him. He wrapped his coat, which was fireproof, around his face, crouched down, remembering her exact position and how he would need to thrust his staff. He didn't use his power but felt the staff hit soft flesh, her throat. There was one universal rule about an opponent: if they cannot breathe, they cannot fight.

The last woman began to shower him with what he could only describe as fireworks. He felt a twinge of pain as one sparked and crackled near his face. He pivoted his hands to hold the staff from the base, lifted it over his head and behind his back. He used his power and the staff was like air in his hands. He flung it forward and let go with all of his might, hitting the woman atop the head with a booming thud. Her eyes rolled and she fell instantly to the floor, dead or unconscious—both served his purpose equally so he cared not.

He felt icy hands grip his own forearms and begin to freeze him. He gripped the man's cold forearms and put his power into effect. The man weighed less than a ping pong ball in his arms. He spun in circles as fast as he could, gaining the momentum he needed. At the opportune moment, he let go and let the man sail at and unruly speed into the ceiling above. He expected him to crash into the ceiling and fall to the floor but he began to sled on ice and circle his way back to Hybrid.

_Neat trick_.

He heard a roar and instinctively jumped in the air. He made his body weightless so he easily cleared ten feet as he sailed in the air. The monster tackled nothing but empty space. Hybrid came down with a vengeance. He began to pummel the monster with a series of quick kicks and punches. When the monster gripped his arm, Hybrid stabbed him in the bicep with the butterfly knife. He roared in pain and Hybrid gave him a flip-kick to the chin, using his power to make the monster weightless at just the right moment. It sent in the air towards the man skating on ice and they collided, falling to the floor in an icy blue bundle.

The way was clear and he'd made it so. There was nothing standing between him and escape. He'd take the veteran X-Men on single-handedly. Sure, he probably hadn't killed any of them but they were supposed to be the best. Nothing stood in the way of him and victory—of payment. It never had. He walked solemnly out of the hangar, leaving his enemies behind. He was going quicker than he'd come, like whisper.

**_A few hours later…_**

"What happened?" Cyclops said. He was visiting all of his comrades in the infirmary. They all looked like they'd received the beating a lifetime.

"The Hybrid," Gambit spat and let out a string of curses in French.

"The Hybrid?" he echoed. He left them alone for one mission and _The Hybrid_ had come to bust Mindflare out of the stockade. It seemed impossible. He shot a look at Jean.

"The Brotherhood must've hired him to get Mindflare out. He came so quickly and…" she hung her head down. Something had to be done about this. Disappointed, troubled, angry or whatever blank he wanted to fill in, Cyclops new that they had to make the mansion more secure. Twice, in the same month, intruders had marched into the mansion as if they lived there and wrecked havoc, nearly killing some of the X-Men.

Luckily, no one was killed in the attack. Jubilee had suffered a pretty severe concussion but injuries seemed so minute whenever Lifestream was around. Cyclops had to assure her that she could stay as he talked about what had happened. She still felt like a cadet.

"Lifestream, where are you going?" he had asked.

"I figured you would want to talk…" she trailed off, beginning to make the assumption that he didn't want her there.

"Stay here for this," he assured her.

Things were becoming more and more dire every day. He'd seen first-hand what the MCA was capable of doing to mutants. Now, they'd rallied the entire government to their cause. They had to do something very soon about the mansion. It was the only haven they had and apparently it was a lot easier to penetrate than he had thought.

_That'll give Adam a chance to redeem himself. I'll have to call Forge._

"The important thing is this: we're alive, _all_ of us," he threw a look at Shadowcat and Nightcrawler. "Now that our core team is intact, we have to start preparing for this war. This mansion, needs to become a fortress and our people, soldiers. We cannot tarry any longer. Mindflare is out there and he will do what he does best: killing. We have enemies all around us and we cannot afford to make any more mistakes.

"I'm calling Forge tonight. He and Adam are going to work together to transform this place into a keep, for our protection. The rest of us are going to do what we can with the time given us to train the newest X-Men.

"Gambit, Jean, Beast, Nightcrawler and myself will be the training team. Storm, you will lead Iceman, Shadowcat, Rogue and Jubilee as the mission team if we have to go out again. The new X-Men stay behind unless the mission calls for something only they can do," he finished his speech. He'd had to make a lot of them lately. It was his job as a leader to both delegate responsibility and keep the morale high. Charles had always warned him that it was no easy task to lead…especially when you had to make decisions that would result in the deaths of others.

_You were right, Charles…as usual…you were right…_

* * *

And so the sun set on another chapter of the X-Men. They had lost again, unable to defend themselves on both fronts. The drums of war could be heard in the distance, the governments of this world no longer tolerant of mutants. The screams of innocents could be heard in the wind as it seemed to whisper once again,

"War…"

For many of them, most of them their days were numbered. They didn't have long before they would meet their end in the heat of battle, fighting valiantly to defend their right to live. It didn't seem fair that they were doomed to fight a war they never wanted, never started and never pursued, but such is the lot of life.

Wars will come; these things must happen. People will die, whether at the end of a gun barrel or sleeping peacefully in their beds. If one takes even a little bit of time to sit and think about this world we live in, to think of the 'truth' that is sold to us everyday about how life is and what it is supposed to be, then it doesn't take long to realize that something is wrong. Why, oh why, is peace so unattainable? Why, oh why, is bloodshed deemed necessary.

The storm clouds begin to gather over the horizon, the drums of war sounding in the deep. The rhythmic steady _booms_ are mistaken for thunder as they shake you down to your depths, where you thought you were safe. Prepare your hearts, ye young, prepare your souls, ye old—the end is coming.

_Boom…boom…boom…boom…boom…BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…_


	24. New Beginnings 1

"Caleb, my boy, I have a great favor to ask of you," Beast came from around the corner without warning. Caleb was finally at the point where the big, blue behemoth didn't startle him. Amazing how being a mutant will get you used to anything in the world. Caleb was playing the piano in the grand hall, as it was so eloquently called. It was supposed to be one of those 'off limits' rooms, but Caleb always thought the rules like that didn't apply to him.

"Hank, my big, blue friend, what might that favor be?" Caleb didn't speak like that all the time but he loved to make fun of the way Beast spoke.

"I'm asking her tonight," he replied simply. Caleb stopped playing on the spot and took a double take at Beast. He'd been waiting to ask Storm for so long to marry him. He had the ring and the speech, but he wanted to invent a good environment to ask her—the _perfect_ environment.

"Shut up, are you so serious right now?" Caleb asked.

"As a heart attack, my boy," he said with a grin. Caleb, feeling his face hurt from grinning ear to ear, leapt off of the bench and wrapped Beast in a hug.

"Congratulations, man!" he looked up at Beast.

"She hasn't said yes yet," Beast frowned.

"She'll say yes; she'd have to be crazy to say no to you," Caleb assured.

"She'd have to be crazy to say yes as well," Beast raised his eyebrows and shrugged. That was his way of saying that he was scared and nervous. Caleb couldn't blame him. He was about to ask the most important person in his life the most important question of both of their lives—a big deal.

"Dude, if she doesn't take you, _I'll_ marry you," Caleb joked, patting his friend on the shoulder. Beast roared with laughter at the sentiment.

"Well, I'm glad to know that I have _that_ option available to me as a failsafe," he laughed again.

"Wait, you said you needed a favor, what's up?"

"Since you are quite the accomplished pianist, I think that I may need your help with a song I've written," Beast said. Caleb was speechless, not something that often happened to him. "I'm quite serious," Beast added.

"Wow…I mean like _words_ or like a whole song, music and all?"

"The music is what I'd hoped you'd help me with," Beast smiled pulling out a sheet of paper from his pocket. "I understand you're a songwriter as well."

"Where did you acquire this little bit of information may I ask?" Caleb knew for certain that he'd never told anyone at the mansion, not even Beast, that he was a songwriter. Caleb did his best to mimic Beast's way of speech again.

"Actually a beautiful, young red head told me that not only can you play the piano, but that you also have a good singing voice, you play the guitar _and_ you write songs," Beast said. When he said red head, he immediately thought of Jean. He had a brain fart when he asked himself how she would know.

_She's a telepath…there are no such things as secrets with her_.

"Jean told you?" he asked, to confirm.

"No, Lindsey, my boy, Lindsey," he replied.

_Lindsey…duh…beautiful, _young _red head who would know something like that. Good one, Caleb_, he thought. It always bothered him to be wrong about things in front of Beast. He knew himself well enough that he'd developed a complex with him. He wanted to make him proud. He wanted to be as kind, intelligent and loving as Beast, but he always felt that he fell short by comparison.

"Duh…Lindsey. My bad—anyway so what do you want me to do?"

"Well, I want you to come up with a simple melody to these words. If you could, turn them into a couple of verses, a chorus and a bridge. Simple enough so that I can sing it to her."

"You're gonna sing to her?" Caleb asked giddily.

"Yes—nothing moves a woman's heart like poetry, roses, diamonds, and a man that will sing to her. It's an almost universal rule," Beast nodded.

"You would know." Caleb looked at the clock. It was one-seventeen. "What time are you going to ask her?"

"I'm going to fix her favorite dinner and we're going to dine right here in the grand hall. At six-thirty we'll come in and have a romantic, candlelight dinner for two. You my friend, will play decorate piano music in the background while we dine.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that you are plenty well fed so that you won't be drooling over our food," Beast assured.

"Oh yeah…make sure the fat kid's fed."

"Fat kid! No I didn't mean…"

"Forget it…it doesn't mean what it sounds like…never mind…okay so you'll feed me beforehand. What are you making?"

"Shrimp and mushroom fettuccine, with a white wine Alfredo sauce, a side salad and a slice of vanilla been cheesecake drizzled with chocolate sauce," he said with a horrible attempt at an Italian accent. He even put his fingers to his hands, made a kissing noise and fanned them out again.

"Holy wow! I really will marry if she says no," Caleb chuckled. His mouth was already watering.

"When the time is right, I'll give you the signal and you cue up the song. I'll sing it to her and prepare her for the grand finale," Beast said. "It's perfect."

"I'll need a few hours to work on this song. There's no _way_ Cyclops is going to give me a day off. He thinks I'm a slacker already," Caleb objected.

"I've already spoken with Scott and he said that because this was such a momentous occasion, he would give you an exemption from your training today," Beast said.

"Thanks, Hank. Yeah…dude I'll so write your song. I'll have it ready by three o'clock to teach you to sing it," he said. Beast wrapped him in a big hug and returned the embrace. He didn't let go right away.

"Thank you, Caleb. You are a fine young man," he released him but put his hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eye as he spoke. "I didn't just ask you to this because I knew that you could write me a song. I did it because you're my friend. I know that you're my student and I know that there is an age gap between us, but I wanted you to be there when this happened.

"Write this song, well, son, because you're going to be singing it at our wedding—as my best man," Beast smiled. Caleb was touched. He'd only known Beast for a short while now, and already he was making him his best man. Caleb rested his hands on his friend's forearms.

"Hank, I don't know what to say. I'm speechless, which is weird for me. I'm honored to know you…and Storm and…uh…to be able to…write you guys' song…wow," Caleb was having trouble getting it all out.

"The honor is all mine my friend. Now! I'll run along and see if I can't fetch up the ingredients for tonight. You've got work to do!" Caleb had never seen him happy as he walked away in anticipation to make Storm his fiancé. Caleb sat down at the piano and looked over the words. Ideas were already coming to him as he began to pound out a chord progression.

* * *

"Okay and then when you hear this little thing in the music, and the chord changes like…that…like that…then you sing the chorus…" Caleb started. Beast had started singing the chorus.

"Baby, I try to find the words to say but oh…you take my breath away when you…" he continued to sing the words. He was doing quite well with learning it under the time frame that they had. Caleb was impressed with his singing voice too. He had to admit that seeing a massive blue beast sing in a clean, high tenor was kind of disturbing. They ran through the song three times in a row to make sure that Beast knew it. Even though Caleb had rearranged the words to fit into stanzas, Beast had no time memorizing them, since he was the original author. Once he taught him the transitions and the timing as to when to start singing, he was good to go.

"Do you think she'll be impressed?" Beast asked directly.

"Yeah, I think that she will. She'll love it buddy; don't worry," Caleb gave him an assuring pat on the back.

"I know, my boy. You can't blame me for being nervous though," he defended.

"No, you sure can't. You're handling all of this way better than I would have."

"That's not true. You always know what to say and how to say it, Caleb; it's one of your gifts."

"Are you kidding me? My mouth is always getting me in trouble. I mean, sure I know what to say and how…but my timing is always wrong. I say things when I'm not supposed to."

"Fair enough…" he trailed off, his thoughts occupied with what was going down that night.

"You've got the song down really well," Caleb encouraged. "You've actually got a really good voice—for a big, blue behemoth."

"Big, blue behemoth—I love the alliteration," he beamed.

"Figured you would. Any-who—I thought we'd be longer with this song business so I'm gonna hit the gym while I still have the chance," Caleb declared, proud of his decision. He gathered his things up.

"I thought you were so glad to have a break from all of that," Beast narrowed his gaze, with a puzzled look.

"I'm glad to have a break from Cyclops pacing the floors, yelling and telling me how much better shape I _could_ be in."

"You don't like him," it was almost a question, but not quite.

"I like him just fine when he's not so gung-ho-army-general-commando or whatever," Caleb shot back.

"That's his job. And in case you didn't notice, he does it to everyone. So don't feel singled out."

"I don't. I like him—really. I guess it's just gonna take a little while to get used to the whole routine of things," Caleb bit his lip and tucked it behind his bottom teeth and stopped when he caught himself doing it. He loathed the habit.

"I still have some more preparation to do for tonight's meal," Beast admitted, looking at his watch.

"Gimme a holler when you're ready," Caleb said as he made his way out the door and to the gym.

* * *

Caleb was seventeen minutes into his cardio workout when Lindsey came in. Everyone was on a break but it appeared as if they were both addicted to the routine of exercise they'd adopted as of late.

She wasn't the same Lindsey that he knew before. She was always the quiet type but now she seemed distant. She seemed like Caleb had been months ago when he'd first come to the Xavier Institute: sad, angry, distant and depressed. She'd been through a lot, and had many things to feel guilty about—like he had.

"Hey, Lindsey!" he called out casually to her, to be polite. She forced a smile and made here way to the treadmill next to his.

"Hey…mind if I warm up next to you?" she asked. He laughed at the question and so did she when she heard it out loud. It made it sound as if she were going to warm up using _him_. "I mean…do my warm up here…on this treadmill next to yours…wow," she corrected herself.

"Yeah, it's cool," he replied as she began a brisk, walking pace alongside his long, heavy strides. She kept her gaze down, towards the digital counter on the machine.

"You know, they say it doesn't feel like it lasts so long if you don't watch the clock," Caleb was trying to keep the conversation as light as possible, for her sake. Then again, maybe she needed one of those deep, heart-to-heart talks. Who knew? He wasn't going to try too hard in either direction. He didn't want to make it obvious that he was trying to make her feel better.

"Oh yeah? Makes sense. Out of sight, out of mind, right?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Actually, I am trying to make it last…this is kind of an escape for me," she admitted.

_Progress…she opens up._

"That's cool. I wish it were my escape. I mean, I like it and all, or at least I like the results, but I'd much rather be hittin a pint of cookie dough ice cream and watching movies, you know?" he smiled as she laughed out loud.

_Houston, we have laughter._

"Well, me too. This is a lot better for you though."

"Yeah, and at the rate we're going, or that Cyclops has us going, we'll all be gladiators by Christmas," Caleb joked, seeing if she shared his sentiment.

"As much as he works us, we're both here on our time off. So a part of us must really want it," she pointed out, dodging the bit about Cyclops.

"That's true. I guess we both have our reasons for getting into shape," Caleb added.

"Yeah. What's your reason?" the question caught him off guard.

"Get in shape, be stronger," he hesitated and then added, "and look good with my shirt off." She laughed at him again, this time more than the first.

"Well, it's good to see that you have your priorities in order," she replied with a grin.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Why do you do it?"

"Honestly?"

"Well, as opposed to a lie," he joked. She gave a smile, but didn't laugh this time.

"Revenge," she blurted, changing her tone. The entire atmosphere seemed to drop a little.

"Revenge?"

"Revenge," she echoed.

"On whom?"

"Mindflare and the Brotherhood."

"I can understand you're reasoning there. I'd like to give them a beating they won't soon forget."

"I don't want to just beat them. I can only settle for having them locked away forever…or dead."

"That's quite an ultimatum," Caleb was troubled by the brutal honesty of her murderous intent.

"The ultimatum is getting millions of people caught up in his war against their will. Now, it's fight or die. We don't have a choice and he shouldn't have one either," she sounded as if she'd been practicing what she'd say if anyone tried to talk her out of what she wanted to do—very dead-set.

"I agree with you they _should_ be locked away where they can't do anymore harm and I hate to admit that the world would be a better place without them. You can't get them yourself."

"Why not? Someone has to do it, so why not me? I have the power to do it…I just need a little training," she sounded so sure of herself and her mission.

"You're making all these plans under the assumption that they survive the war. And that _you_ survive the war, or any of us for that matter," Caleb pointed out.

"Yeah…"

"Yeah. We have enough to worry about surviving this war without serving out a slice of justice pie."

"Justice pie?"

"I was thinking like humble pie…but it doesn't have the same ring to it," he grinned. Her treadmill began to slow; her warm up was over and he still had a ways to go.

"It was good talking to you, Caleb," she said shortly.

"Hey, Lin. I'm sorry if I cut you down about the whole Brotherhood thing. I'm wasn't trying to be jerk or anything."

"No, it's okay. You're right. I'm not going to give it up just because you think it's best but you're right about keeping our focus on surviving. There'll be plenty of time to think about the other stuff later," she said. She didn't look mad and he was satisfied.

"Lin?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you ever hear from Nathan?" he dared to ask her. He didn't know and he'd broken contact with Nathan a long time ago because of him having to go into hiding.

"No—he's dead," she replied, pursing her lips together.

"You're sure?" he asked, stepping off of the treadmill, letting it run by itself.

"I didn't hear one way or the other but he would've gotten in touch with me by now," she wiped a single tear from her eye. He came over and gave her a hug. He had already broken a sweat and was nasty but he still wanted to be there for her as much as he could.

"I'm sorry, Lin," was all he could manage to say.

"Thank you. You're a good friend, Caleb. I mean not just to me. Nathan always talked about you after you were gone. He used to say how he missed his 'Caleb hugs' and how you always made him laugh—how goofy you were," she smiled thinking of the good memories.

"How goofy I am," he corrected, making a ridiculous face. She smiled one more time.

"Have a good day, Caleb," she said, walking away.

"You too," he said as he watched her leave.

* * *

Weeks of grueling training had taken its toll on Lindsey. She ate a lot more protein and did a lot more activity in each day to build muscle. She had private sessions with Gambit and Nightcrawler every day for gymnastics and martial arts. She was making progress. It wasn't as if she had much of a choice. The only place that she was safe from the MCA was with the X-Men or with the Brotherhood. There was no way that she was going to go to the Brotherhood for help. She hated them now more than ever, and beat herself up every single day for not being able to stop Hybrid from freeing Mindflare. Every time she felt like quitting when the training sessions became too hard, she remembered her vow to stop Mindflare.

The only sound that could be heard was the sound of her dealing one punch-punch-kick combo after another into a bag that could not answer her assault. She gritted her teeth as the sweat trickled down her brow and her muscles burned for relief. She punished her body, making it as strong as she could in the time that was allotted to her. She would've _never_ seen herself in this position: a soldier. She had always had a heart to do missions work in Africa. She never wanted to be caught up in a war between humans and mutants. It was obvious to her now that she controlled nothing as far as the world around her.

Her thoughts fell on Nathan again. He was one of the only ones who knew that she was a mutant before the war started. Though he hadn't exactly proposed, they talked of marriage often. She knew that he was the man of her dreams, her soulmate. She had come to terms and accepted the idea that he was dead. She'd tried everything and everyway that she knew how to find him. She called his cell phone, home phone and those of his relatives and friends in the area.

Why was it so hard to accept that he was gone? It seemed the most likely scenario considering the circumstances. He was hiding out in her basement after the attack—he'd killed some police officers that'd wanted to bring him in for questioning. They MCA had _known_ to come and look for her at the church. Or were they looking for Caleb? It seemed infinitely more like that they would be searching for her because Caleb had been missing from the area for so long. The MCA had probably already been to her house, found Nathan and killed or captured him. It was the only thing that could've happened; he would have contacted her by now if it were something otherwise.

Forty-two days: that was how long it had been since the last time that they'd spoken to each other; she was keeping count. It didn't seem like she'd been at the mansion for very long. Maybe it was the monotony of her existence there until a few weeks ago. It was kind of lonely there. She had to leave all of her friends, family and the man she loved behind. The only people that she knew were Markas and Caleb. She had only really _met_ Markas beforehand. He was little more than an acquaintance. Caleb was really good friends with Nathan and she considered him friends with her as well. They had known each other pretty well before he disappeared suddenly without a trace. When was it?

_Right before the earthquake…and when he didn't turn up afterwards, everyone assumed that he'd died._

His family hadn't held a funeral for him until months after the incident. They were determined that he was alive—that he had survived. No wonder he hadn't felt comfortable about confronting them when he had went home.

_At least he _has _something to go home to_, she thought bitterly. Her entire life had been ruined. She lost her brother and two sisters in the earthquake, and had killed her grandmother and aunt with her own hands, against her will. She could not longer be herself anymore. She was too consumed by guilt, grief, hate and rage.

She punched the bag with every ounce of strength that she had inside of her. It wasn't enough, she knew, to do any damage yet. That moment was coming closer and closer. The sooner that she was able to fight for herself, she would say goodbye to the X-Men and she would hunt down the Brotherhood. Any of them who survived the war up to that point, would meet their end at her hand.

Her thoughts fell on the war. The news was full of stories about countries quarantining the entire nation for mutants. Some of the smaller, communist countries were able to do it too. Most countries had separated into to factions, humans and mutants. It left them suffering and crippled, in the middle of civil war.

The most breaking news was rebel mutant group that had started in the Middle East…Israel if she remembered right. The group of mutants was calling themselves The Remnant. They were banding together as many mutants as they could find to their cause. Their leader was rumored to be a mutant powerful enough to protect them all and destroy their enemies. They'd become a glimmer of hope in that part of the world to mutantkind. Lindsey hoped that many mutant factions would join The Remnant and that their campaign would be successful.

Maybe if mutants won the war, they could finally have the peace that they'd all longed for.

_Listen to yourself! You sound like Mindflare._

She continued to give the bag blow after merciless blow. She glanced up at the clock and realized she only had about three minutes until she had reached the half-hour mark. She had wanted to clobber the bag for thirty-minutest straight and she had nearly attained it. She began to take bigger pauses between hits, so that she could slow her heart rate and take bigger breaths.

Finally, her time was over. It was six o' clock and she had not eaten supper yet. She decided that she would shower, change and make her way to the kitchen to do just that.


	25. New Beginnings 2

Caleb dressed up in his nicest clothes that he could find. He didn't want to look underdressed playing the piano for Beast's proposal. He had this strange vision of Beast lending him a tux just so that he could meet the bar. Caleb was a big guy but he was sure that there was nothing in Beast's wardrobe that would fit him. He fixed his hair and shaved, trying to be as presentable as he knew how. He even smoothed his eyebrows. He looked himself over in the mirror, pleased with what he saw.

_Looking sharp_.

He stepped out the bathroom and into the new, four person bedroom that he, Markas, Isaac and Jake shared. It was originally two two-person rooms but he'd done away with one of the walls. They decided instead of fixing it, to just make it into one huge room that the four of them could room in. It was working quite nicely. Rooming with Jake and Isaac was a little bit of a change. Adam was slipping on their couch for the time being. Apparently he wasn't going to be staying much longer. Lucky guy would get to room with one of the former X-Men, Forge, when he came pretty soon.

"What's the occasion, slick?" Jake asked, with a demeaning tone.

"Under any other circumstances, I'd tell you, but it's supposed to be a surprise," he said. Markas looked at him and narrowed his eyes.

_Can you tell me? All you have to do is think the answer, and they won't hear_, Markas sent him a telepathic message.

"Oh c'mon, tell us, man. That ain't right," Isaac complained.

_Yeah, Beast is going to propose to Storm tonight and I'm playing a song he wrote for her so that he can sing it_, he replied in thought.

"No! Dude, you'll find out soon enough it'll be all over the campus tomorrow morning, trust me," Caleb objected.

_Are you SERIOUS? That's hella cool, man. Hey, tell the big, blue dude I said, "congratulations_, Markas replied.

"Well then there's no harm in telling us now, is there?" Jake was interested now too.

_If I tell him you said, "congrats," he'll know I told you_, Caleb pointed out in his mind.

"Dude, don't freakin worry about it, okay? It's not even that bigga deal," he shot back. His speech had altered a little since he'd been spending so much time with Isaac. Speech so different must've rubbed off on him.

_Oh yeah…just tell him I read your mind and got it out of you like that_, Markas offered.

"If it ain't dat bigga deal, den you can tell us, can't ya?" Isaac challenged.

_Then you'll get in trouble for abusing your powers again…he'll tell on you to Jean_, Caleb warned.

"Dude, just _tell us_, we wanna know," Jake demanded.

_He'd do that?_ Markas asked, surprised.

"I'm not gonna tell you, put a sock in it!" Caleb shot back. He didn't mean to sound so snappy but he was hearing three voices at a time—one of which was in his head.

_Yeah he would, trust me_, he replied to Markas.

"Fine! I see how it is! Next time I know something, I ain't telling you! Bet!" Isaac blasted, making faces.

"Markas, don't you wanna know what's going on?" Jake asked. Caleb shot a look over at Markas, as if he were just as surprised that Markas hadn't said anything yet.

"In case you hadn't figured by now, when Caleb says he's not gonna say something, he doesn't say anything. You're wasting your breath trying to get it out of him," he defended. That seemed to put a rest to things.

_Thank you_, Caleb thought, he was unsure if the telepathic link was still open.

_Your welcome…just forget about the whole congratulations thing…I'll pretend to be as surprised as everyone else_, Markas replied.

_Okay, cool. Any-who…I'm off to be tonight's musical entertainment_, he announced as he walked out of the room, knowing that Markas could still talk with him.

_Sounds great…break a leg_, Markas said.

_That would be so oh dear if I really did break a leg on the way there and wasn't able to play, wouldn't it_? Caleb thought. He hadn't really meant to tele it to Markas, but he knew that it reached him.

_You're such a stare, Caleb_, he replied with a laughing tone.

_Yeah, no joke_, he agreed.

He continued towards the kitchen. It was about six o'clock. He planned on stopping by the kitchen, eating a quick bit of Beast's wonderful feast and heading to the grand hall. He was excited about the whole thing. He was sure that he wasn't as excited as Beast was, or as Storm would be soon, but excited nonetheless.

_God, help everything to go smoothly tonight_.

* * *

Lindsey burst into the kitchen and the aroma of something wonderful filled her nostrils and made her mouth water. She saw beast preparing some plates of pasta with shrimp, mushrooms and white sauce. It looked as incredible as it smelled.

"Hey, what smells so good?" she asked, as she reached into the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water.

"Fettuccine white wine Alfredo with shrimp and mushrooms, my dear," he said with a smile.

"What's the occasion?" she asked, knowing that this kind of cooking wasn't a normal thing around the mansion. There was a student kitchen and a faculty kitchen. She snuck into the faculty kitchen to steal their fresh fruits and vegetables because the student kitchen was stocked with mostly lunchmeat, cheese and soda.

"If I tell you, do you _promise_ to keep it a secret?" he asked with an ear-to-ear smile. Now, she was intrigued.

"My lips our sealed," she replied.

"I'm going to ask Ororo to be my wife tonight, and this dinner is for her," he said. She had been there long enough to know that they had been in a long relationship with each other and had just not got around to tying the knot. When they announced that they were getting married, it was going to be a big deal around the campus.

"Congratulations, Beast! I'm so happy for you," she beamed.

"Why does everyone always say that? She hasn't said yes yet," he frowned.

"I don't think any man in his right mind would ask a woman to marry him who he didn't know would say yes," she pointed out.

"Very true…it just seems the inappropriate thing to say," he frowned again.

"Who else have you told?" she asked, curiously.

"Jean, Scott, Caleb and yourself are the only people that I've told. If anyone else knows, it's not my doing," he said. She thought of Nathan again and could do nothing to keep her face from dropping.

"What's the matter, my dear?" he asked, putting down his utensils.

"Oh, nothing. I don't want to dampen your spirits with my mess. This is an happy occasion for you and you should enjoy it," she objected.

"Please, Lindsey, do tell. I'll be more troubled that something is bothering you," he sounded so genuine. Lindsey knew Beast and Storm the most out of all of the teacher, but that was only because they and Caleb were so close. She didn't know if she was comfortable telling Beast about her and Nathan.

_What's it going to hurt, Lindsey. You can't stay like this forever. Talking about it will probably help. Just tell him._

"My boyfriend and I always talked about getting married but he never got around to asking me," she replied simply.

"What happened?"

"He died," she spoke too soon.

"In the attack? Was he a human?" he asked.

"No, he was a mutant and he died after the attack…or at least that's the conclusion I've come to."

"You don't know for sure?"

"Not exactly. He hasn't contacted me in the entire time that I've been here at the mansion. He was staying at my house after the attack. The MCA came to look for me at the church which means they must've already been to my house—where he was," she fought for composure.

"I am so sorry, Lindsey," he but a massive arm on her shoulder and looked her in the eye. "If you ever need anything, someone to talk to, a friend, just let me know. If you'd be more comfortable talking to a woman, you can feel free to approach Ororo too. We're not just here to turn you into a soldier for a war—we're here to be your friends too," he assured.

"Thank you, Beast—for caring," she blushed.

"Always, my dear," he said.

At that moment Caleb, decked out to the tee burst into the door.

"Your fiancé-to-be is on her way to…oh crap!" he said, looking at Lindsey.

"It's okay, my boy! I already told her all about it. It's safe to speak freely," he smiled.

"Woo…thank God. I was worried my big mouth got me in trouble again. Any-who, Storm is on her way to the grand hall now. I saw her walking that way. She's all dressed up too, wearing that dress that…"

"Don't tell me anything! I want it to be as much a surprise to me as it is to her. Now, I promised you a meal, dear boy, didn't I?"

"That you did," Caleb said, rubbing his stomach, eyeing the food.

"Lindsey, would you like some?" he asked, pointing to the pot of food. It was clear that he'd made more than enough.

"The polite thing would be to say, 'no, thank you,' but that looks way too good to pass up," she admitted. "I'd love some."

"Very good! You two can eat in here, I'm going to take these covered dishes to the grand hall. Caleb, come as soon as you're done eating to help me set up anything I haven't done already," he said, running out the kitchen with two silver dish covers in each hand.

"Will do, Hank!" he said. He reached up in the cupboard and snatched another plate. He dished out some of the food and starting preparing a salad for himself. "You can go ahead and start on that one if you want to."

"Thank you," she said, reaching for a fork and knife. She felt famished and starved. She bowed her head and was just starting to pray over her food and Caleb interrupted her.

"You still pray over your food?" he asked.

"Yeah…I guess old habits die hard," she smiled.

"Oh, I wasn't trying to give you grief about it—I do it too. Actually, I get teased sometimes for doing it here," he admitted.

"Apparently being a Christian isn't exactly the cool thing to be anymore, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess not. I don't think most of the kids really grasp what 'being a Christian' actually is…anyway we won't get persecuted or offended for praying out loud here so let's do it!"

"Okay. You or me?" she asked.

"I'll pray," he said, sitting at the counter. He bowed his head and closed his eyes; she did the same. "Thank you, Lord for this day. Thank you for the food we're about to eat. Please bless it and the hands that prepared it, in your name, Amen."

"Amen," she added with a smile. She dug her fork in, twirled it, making sure she got sauce, pasta, shrimp and mushroom in a single bite. She popped the big bite in her mouth and nearly fainted.

"Oh wow…that's real good," Caleb said, with a mouthful of his own.

"It's amazing. I had no idea he could cook," she said.

"Yeah, he never ceases to amaze me," Caleb admitted.

"He's a good guy," Lindsey added.

"He's a great guy. He's the whole reason I was able to recover from everything that happened—with the earthquake and all," he explained.

"Did you lose family?" she asked.

"No one immediate, I know a few of my friends died in it. Yeah, I was pretty broken, angry, depressed—whatever—about the whole thing. Beast was a friend and some just when I needed it," Caleb said.

"It sounds like you guys are pretty close," she half-asked-half-stated.

"Yeah, he's my best friend and apparently I'm his. He asked me to be his best man already."

"Wow, that's really cool! You guys spend a lot of time together," she was intrigued by the whole situation.

"Yeah, not as much as we spent when I was doing therapy sessions with him. That's where the whole thing started."

"Are you close with any of the other teachers, besides him and Storm?" she asked.

"Not really. Shadowcat, the woman we rescued from that prison, she kissed me," he said with a wink.

"Are you serious? Why?"

"I guess it was her way of thanking me. I was the one who busted down the door of the cell that she'd been locked away in…I guess she was really grateful," he said.

"I guess…that's funny. The only teachers I've really talked to are Beast, Storm, Jean and Cyclops. Gambit's talked to me a few times but I get this funny feeling like he's coming on to me, so I keep my distance," she swallowed another huge bite of the delicious food.

"Yeah, apparently he's quite the ladies' man…or used to be. He's got a need," Caleb reached for some salad, which had gone forgotten because of the main course.

"Something like that," she trailed off. They made a little more small talk over the course of the meal and finished faster than she'd hoped. Caleb was good company; he made her laugh.

"Well, I gotta head out. I am their musical entertainment tonight," he said.

"Yeah…break a leg," she joked.

"That's two people who's told me that in under an hour," he said.

"Who else said that?" she wondered out loud.

"Markas…I told him about the whole thing tonight. Don't tell Beast though. I don't want him to think that I'm going around telling all his business," Caleb pleaded.

"No, I won't tell. I don't think that you'll have to worry about Markas either," she added.

"No, he's way to lax to even care that much," Caleb shook his head.

"How did he get made captain of the Jr. X-Men?" she had wanted to know that little bit of information for a while but was unsure who to ask without it getting back to and offending Markas. He just seemed so unlikely a candidate.

"That's a long story. I tell you tomorrow on our break. We can raid these leftovers. In the meantime, I have to go," he said, heading for the door.

"Tomorrow at lunch?" she asked, for confirmation.

"Yep! It's a date!" he said as he rushed out the door. She was troubled by his words. She _knew_ that he didn't mean a real date. He said that about meeting anyone anywhere for any reason. He had been awfully friendly with her lately. Was he trying to make a pass at her now that Nathan was gone? No, Caleb wasn't like that at all.

_He's just being a friend, Lindsey. Don't start throwing up walls and making assumptions. This is the best day that you've had in a long time and you have him to thank for it. Don't be such a case_.

She finished the rest of her meal with her thoughts in places she didn't expect them to be. She was thinking much more about the present and future and less about Nathan, the attack and the past. Sorrow was only supposed to be a temporary thing. Shouldn't she be glad that she was coming out of it?

* * *

Ororo stepped into the grand hall to hear delightful piano music playing, a table set on the other side of the room with candles, a vase and roses, two covered dishes and the love of her life dressed in a tuxedo with his arms folded in front of him. The lights were dim and the candlelight made his blue fur glow like twilight. He looked better than the first time she realized she was in love with him.

"Hank, what is all this for? What's the occasion?" she asked.

"You're the occasion—we are the occasion, my love," he said, making a bow and extending he hand as she approached him. He took it and kissed it, like the overcompensating gentleman he was.

"It's beautiful, Hank. You didn't have to go through all this trouble," she scolded.

"Of course I did. Ororo, how else would you know that I love you except by what I say and do?" he asked.

"You're right, as always. There's no use in arguing with you. Well, I appreciate that you would do something this special for me, Hank. I want you to know that I don't take it for granted."

"It's a pleasure to treat you," he said. She looked over at the piano and saw Caleb dressed quite nicely. He didn't don the tuxedo as Beast had, but he still was looking his best. He was playing soft, melodic tune on the piano, obviously for their enjoyment.

"Caleb, you're look nice," she called from across the room as she approached him.

"Not nearly so much as you, Storm. You're absolutely stunning," he said. Beast must've been rubbing off on him. She'd heard him refer to beautiful women as 'hot' most of the time. She was certain Beast had given him some sort of speech.

"Thank you, Caleb. You're such a sweetheart," she gave him kiss on the cheek and made her way back to Beast.

"Just pretend I'm not here," Caleb offered.

"Well then we wouldn't have the music then would we?" she glanced over her shoulder.

"I guess not…I'm already talking too much," he said, putting his eyes down at the keys. She couldn't help but grin. He played beautifully—no doubt what he was born to do. She came and wrapped her arms around Beast, careful not to smear makeup on his black coat.

"Well, what did you make me?" she asked, though she figured she knew the answer.

"Your favorite," he replied, lifting the dishes to reveal the pasta and white sauce. Her mouth began to water.

"Hank, I love you," she said, keeping her eyes on the food as he helped her to her chair.

"I love you to, my dear," he replied as he took his seat. They spent the evening talking about what the day had brought them. She talked about the Danger Room sessions and what students looked the most promising. She was careful to say that part low enough so that there was no possibility of Caleb overhearing. It just wouldn't be right to talk about his peers in front of him.

The night was so wonderful. Even though they spoke about the war, and what was coming for them, the night seemed to lift them away from their troubles and duties. No longer did they have to be Storm and Beast, the X-Men. For a while, they could just be Ororo and Hank, the people.

The meal was over too quickly, and she wished she could have the moment forever. It was easily one of the best times she'd ever had. She looked longingly at the love of her life and could've melted at the gaze he gave her in return. They were in love.

"Now, the _real _reason why we are here tonight. Caleb, if you would please," he said, raising his voice loud enough so that he could hear. He stepped into the middle of the room and gave a motion for her to join him.

_Is he going ask me to dance?_

"Come here, my love. I have something special planned for you tonight," she came and they began to move slowly to the music as they danced.

"_I saw your smile…and it was love at first sight_," he suddenly started singing. She'd never heard him sing before but he had a lovely, clean tenor voice. "_I heard you voice…and it was music to my ears_.

"_We've come so far and seen much, my love_…_I don't want to go one day without you by my side_…

"_From now until forever_…_I'll be yours and you'll be mine_…_we'll walk this road together_…_and we'll lose all track of time_…I_'ll live each day to prove to you that I'll be true_…_from now until forever_…" he sang the chorus and the music began to change for another verse. She was already crying. She wasn't the crying type but he had such way with her. He knew exactly which buttons to push and which strings to pull.

"Hank…it's beautiful…where did you get it?" she asked.

"I wrote it…with Caleb's help of course. There's more to it but I want you to hear the rest another day," he said.

"Oh, I want to hear it now," she pleaded.

"Another day, my love," he got on one knee and pulled out a black ring box from his pocket. She could hear the weather changing outside because her emotions were fluttering so. The wind and rain picked up and lightning flashes illuminated the now darker room.

"Oh, Hank," she exclaimed, knowing what was coming next.

"Ororo Monroe, I love you with all the love that I possess. I've never felt this close to anyone. I don't want to spend one more delaying. I want you to be my wife, I want you to stand beside me and love me from now until forever…

"Ororo Monroe, will you marry me?"

"Of course I will!" She knelt down on the floor and embraced him, holding him closer than she'd ever attempted, no longer worrying about smudging his collar. She leaned in a kissed him passionately. He picked her up off of the floor and held her in his arms, returning the kiss. She ran her fingers through his hair and held him all the more. She knew that Caleb was in the room but was too overtaken to care.

At that moment she was the happiest woman alive. She wanted to keep this night forever, and now she could. It did turn out to be the happiest day of her life.

* * *

Rogue had spent the past few minutes, in the bathroom and she hadn't made single noise. She'd been sick lately—some kind of stomach flu. She couldn't keep food down very well and didn't feel herself in the morning. She'd been in there long enough for Bobby to check on her, he decided. He knocked on the door.

"Baby, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. He could tell by the stress in her voice that she was upset about something.

"You don't sound fine. Did I do something?" he asked.

"No…well yes but…come in," she said. She didn't sound mad at him but when he opened the door it was clear that she had been crying.

"What's the matter, Baby?" he asked, rushing to her side. She looked at him. It was the happiest he'd ever seen her, as long as he had known her, despite the tears in her eyes. The words that she said next would be the most powerful words ever spoken to him.

"Bobby…I'm pregnant."


	26. Baby Steps

Meeting Forge wasn't what Adam had expected. He was a short, muscular, Native American man with a fumanchu and a ponytail. He had tribal tattoos the entire length of one arm. The other arm was robotic, as was the leg opposite to it. He was told that this man was a technical and mechanical genius, but he looked like some sort of tough guy you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley alone at night.

He was moving in with Forge so that they could work together as a team. Adam had absolutely no interest in joining the front lines of the X-Men and being some sort of soldier. He convinced Cyclops that his powers limited to him to have effectiveness only on missions that would require a hacker or tech. Cyclops agreed but still forced him to do work out with the rest of the team every morning. He didn't have to do any Danger Room Sessions and for that, he was thankful.

He was given an X-suit that he was allowed to design himself. That was a cooler experience than he'd expected it to be. He'd spent an extra twenty minutes studying the machine and computer that made the suits for them. He loved the material too. It was stronger and more durable than leather, but breathed and was very light like cotton.

"Hello. You must be Adam," Forge greeted him with a simple smile, extending his hand.

"Yes. And you must be Forge," Adam replied, shaking his hand.

"That, I am. I understand that you are going to be my new roommate."

"Yeah. I'm supposed to be your protégé or something of that sort," Adam replied.

"I see. So you're a technopath, yeah?"

"Correct."

"Tell me the capabilities of your powers," Forge said, setting his huge duffle bags on his bed.

"I can sense running computers from nearly a mile away, from the simplest to the most complex, I can communicate and access them from about fifteen feet or so. I don't need to use a mouse or keyboard at a console because I can plug my mind directly into the inputs. Though I can't read it off of a page with my eyes, I can_ read_ about 60,000 words per minute and transmit about the same. That doesn't just go for text files, but any files equivalent to that size.

"I can also receive radio signal broadcasts on any wavelength discovered yet to man. Also, I have an internal cell phone built into my mind," Adam said, most proud of the last detail.

"An internal cell phone?" Forge asked, intrigued.

"Yes. Really, it's just a satellite relay of a number of my choice. Whenever someone calls it, I get the ring in my head and I can answer it and talk to them. I can also multi-task any and all of these functions at the same time," Adam added.

"That's impressive. Our gifts our very different but I can see why they paired us together. In case they didn't tell you, my gift is somewhat of an enigma. I can create any machine that I can imagine. Any function that I need it to accomplish, I can build it to do just that," he explained.

"So, you used to be an X-Man?" Adam inquired.

"Yes. I was an X-Man once and long ago. Now I serve as a black market merchant. I specialize in weapons, armor and other field equipment," Forge answered. "So did the old one-eye give us any homework yet? Or is that what I'm here to find out?"

"You didn't ask to come here?"

"No. I didn't really know if I was still welcome here. I didn't leave on good terms and I don't want to get into why. I was thrilled when Cyclops called me back and said I could stay here. I didn't have any other place to go, you know. No where is safe out there for mutants anymore."

"Tell me about it. They were rounding up every mutant in my work and shipping them off to concentration camps."

"What did you do?"

"Wrote software."

"Should've guessed. How do you know the X-Men?"

"My brother, Jake—excuse me, _Palisade_, is a student here. Apparently, he's graduated to be full-fledged X-Men now. Not a good thing for his ego," Adam realized he'd already said too much.

"Your brother a hotshot?"

"You have no idea," Adam agreed.

"What's your real name, Adam?"

"I'm assuming by 'real name' you mean my mutant alias?"

"You assume correctly."

"I don't have one. I don't see the point. I think that the name that my parents gave me is just fine. I like Adam," the truth behind his disapproval of the mutant names was that he couldn't think of anything cool to fit his power. All of the other mutants had great names that were accented around what they could do. Forge was master inventor, Jake's name, Palisade, suggested a barrier or a wall, Cyclops's goggles made it look like he had one eye like the mythical beast in the Odyssey. His power, he was sure, didn't have the potential to be anything cool.

"Of course you see the point," Forge said. "It is a way of embracing your mutanthood, everyone knows that. You just can't think of anything cool enough can you?"

"I didn't know telepathy was one of your secondary gifts," Adam joked.

"I have a knack for reading people—always have. Don't you have any nicknames, computer aliases and such?"

"I have an infinite amount of hacker aliases. They show it in the movies like hackers keep one name and leave their mark to make a name for themselves. The reality is quite different. You want to be invisible. I randomize my hacker alias with a series of fourteen or less numbers and letters and change it every time I hack. I could give you the list of everything I've ever used," Adam said.

"No that's fine. Surely you have a screen name that you use for other matters, instant messages, email, gaming and such," Forge suggested.

"Well, I do have one of those but I don't think that it would make a good mutant name. It's The Typo King, but it's spelled t-e-h-t-p-y-o king. When I actually used keyboards I used to be able to type really fast, well over a hundred words a minute—but every other button that I hit was the backspace key," Adam laughed. Forge laughed too, as if he could relate to the sentiment.

"Typo," he said with a smile. "Your name is Typo."

"Typo? It doesn't exactly suggest some uber-strong mutant I guess that's good. It's who I am and it's familiar. I like it," Adam smiled.

"Do you? I know I kind of named you back there, but you don't have to keep if you don't like it. It's really not my decision," his tone was apologetic, as if he'd intruded.

"No really, it's fine. It's more than fine. Typo…I guess I should tell Jean so that she can add me into the Xavier Protocols."

"Go ahead and go talk to her now. I'd like a little time to get settled in anyway."

* * *

"So, you guys were really serious then?" Caleb asked. Lindsey pursed her lips and nodded.

"Yeah, we talked about marriage all the time. It seemed like it was the right timing, and God's will and all that great stuff…then all of this happened," she waved her hand around the mansion.

"I know what you mean. I told you the story about how I got drafted into this whole way of things. It was the most haphazard chance thing ever," Caleb started to reminisce on how he'd come to the Institute.

"Kind of like you randomly showing up at the church when I happened to be praying in it—_right_ when I needed someone to come and rescue me?" she cocked her head and smiled. Caleb had kind of made it his personal mission to make her smile as often as possible. She needed some cheering up, but he was willing to talk about the past with he as long as she needed. He remembered how much he needed to expose his demons when he and Beast had sessions together.

"Yeah, I don't believe in coincidence either—it must've been…"

"—Divine appointment."

"—Divine appointment," they had said it at exactly the same time. They laughed.

"Jinx," she joked.

"Yeah, I guess," Caleb shrugged.

"So let me ask you this, if it was divine appointment that you come and rescue me just when you did, how come God didn't do the same thing for Nathan?" her tone suddenly became bitter.

"I don't know. I don't claim to understand the mind of God. He's so much higher than us; his ways aren't ours," he offered.

"That's for sure. I guess when you're in charge of who lives, who dies and when, you can't keep everybody happy," Lindsey looked away. Her mood and attitude changed quickly. In a few seconds, he knew he'd have her smiling and laughing again.

"This is so cliché, but it's true: he's in a better place now," Caleb tried to comfort her.

"That doesn't take the pain away," she retorted curtly.

"I know…I'm not saying any of this to tell you to get over it quicker, Lin," Caleb pointed out. There was no point in trying to hide that he was doing what he could to keep her spirits high.

"What are you trying to do, Caleb?" he asked softly, but her tone was demanding.

"I'm doing everything that I can do to be the best friend that I canfor you right now. I'm doing everything in my power to make this easier on you," he admitted.

"Nathan was right about you," she seemed, for a moment to change the subject.

"About what?"

"You are a really good friend."

"Thank you. I'm here for you, you know. There's another one of those stupid clichés that I try so desperately to avoid, but this situation calls for it," he said, still trying to keep the mood as light as would allow.

"Yeah, but why? Are you doing it as some sort of obligation to Nathan? Taking care of his things after he's gone?"

"No…I mean…yeah but…this is an unfair question because there's no right answer. I'm your friend too. Yes, I was much closer to Nathan than I was to you and given my position, and yours, there's no one else that you have to console you and comfort you, so I am _obligated_, if that's the word. But then again, I'm not obligated…or…I don't mind the obligation…I welcome it," Caleb was speaking faster than his mind could process what he was trying to say.

"You're a really honest person," she said suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"You were right about the question; I kind of trapped you with that one, and I apologize. You didn't try to sugarcoat anything though. You told me the reality of things, and didn't try to create some euphoric reply that would make me feel better. That's an admirable quality—Nathan was always like that," she explained.

"Too much honesty can be a bad thing, though," Caleb rebottled.

"I disagree. You should be honest no matter what. Even when someone doesn't want to hear it."

"What if it hurts their feelings?"

"They have to hear the truth sometime or another. It's better that they hear it from a friend then from a total stranger who doesn't care about them."

"I guess you're right. What about you? Are you an honest person?"

"Yeah, maybe not quite so honest as you or Nathan, but I think that's because both you weren't afraid to say _exactly_ what was on your mind," she smiled again.

"Yeah, he always was a mind-speaker," Caleb remembered. He was the same way. That's why he always said that his mouth got him in trouble. He was never afraid to speak up and speak out, letting the whole world know his exact position on something. Some people resented him for it, but most respected him.

"I appreciate you seeing me through this, Caleb. Even if you weren't the only person that I really had to turn to, you're still a great shoulder to lean on," she said.

"Thanks. Don't be afraid to ask me to do something for you, no matter how silly you may think it is. If you just wanna talk, then talk. If you need to cry, cry. I'll help you through this as best as I know how," he encouraged.

"It may take a while…I might have to take baby steps."

"For something as important and fragile as grieving, baby steps are the best way of travel. Hey, I have something for you," he said, leaping off the couch and to the upright piano against the wall.

"What?" she asked playfully.

"It's a song—for you."

"You wrote me a song?" she asked disbelievingly.

"I wish I wrote it, but unfortunately I can't take credit for this one…_some_…_times in our lives_…_we all have pain_…_we all have sorrow_…" she laughed giddily as she recognized. He played the song through and sang out strong for her. She began to sing along with him with her soft, true soprano.

A few spectators came over and began to sing with them, since everyone knew the song. Before long, everyone was swaying and singing along, the atmosphere totally transformed to make a happy moment—exactly as Caleb had planned.

* * *

"So what do we do?" Bobby asked. Rogue was thinking the same way. She didn't know whether to yell the good news from the rooftops or not to get her hopes up at all. If her power activated, the child inside of her would surely die. She wouldn't be able to go on a single mission now, she would have to stay behind in the mansion and take it easy.

"I don't know, should we tell everyone?"

"I don't think we should tell _everyone_ about it. We need to at least tell Jean and have you looked over," he suggested.

"Yeah, you're right about that. She'll tell Scott," she pointed out.

"Oh well. They can both keep a secret. I don't want to wait to long before we talk to Jean, and get a doctor's opinion," Bobby decided.

"You're right. I'm going to go and talk to her today," she paused and then said, "Bobby, what is everyone going to think?"

"Who cares what everyone thinks, what do _we_ think?"

"I'm thrilled. I never thought I'd ever get to touch people, let alone have a child. And it's not as if I'm having any child, but the man I love's," she smiled caressing his cheek with her hand, an affection they'd gone years without.

"I've never been more happy about something in my life. We should start thinking of names!" he smiled gleefully.

"Names? We don't even know the gender yet."

"That's why we think of names for both, Rogue. We gotta be prepared," he said. She gave him a sideways look.

"Don't tell me you've already thought of some," she scolded.

"I've kind of always had names in mind," he admitted bashfully. Rogue had always been too bitter about her powers to ever entertain such a happy thought.

"Really? Do tell," she pleaded.

"Well, if I ever had a son, I either wanted a Robert Drake Jr. or…" he trailed off.

"Or? C'mon, Bobby! Tell me!"

"I always liked the name Shawn," he finally announced.

"Shawn," she tried it out. "Sounds good."

"Shawn Robert Drake."

"What about girls?"

"I don't know if you'll like this one or not…Liana. Not Lianna but Liana with an _ah_ sound," he gave her a look, hoping she liked it.

"Liana Marie Drake," she filled in the blank with her own name, claiming a namesake for herself.

"There you go! Our kids have names!"

"Well, I don't think we should set anything in stone yet. We have ten months or so to think about it. It's not like it's a pet or something either—it's a person. So we have to name it well."

"It's gonna be dangerous bringing kids into the world at a time like this," Bobby's tone dropped at the grim change in subject.

"Yeah, as excited as I am, I think we should've been more careful—talked about it and all," she agreed.

"Everything's changing so fast, Rogue. The wars coming, Beast and Storm are finally tying the knot and we're having a baby," he summed it all up. It sounded so big—almost overwhelming to take it all in at once.

"That's life—always full of surprises. This is the first time in a while that life has thrown us something good," she smiled, referring to the baby.

"It came with the cost of something pretty traumatic though," he countered, alluding to everything that had happened with Pyro. He was right. That was one chapter in her life, though she so enjoyed the results, that she was glad was over.

"Yeah—I guess we should probably get married too, shouldn't we?"

"You want to?"

"We didn't get married before only because we couldn't enjoy the benefits, and now we can."

"We kinda jumped that gun a little bit, don't you think?" he laughed.

"Sure did. I want to do it. If nothing else, at least I'll have a real last name."

"Oh is that all marriage is worth to you?"

"C'mon you know me better than that. So what'd ya say, Bobby Drake? Will you marry me?"

"Hey, that's my job!"

"Well hurry up an' ask me, damn it—I've been waitin' nine years."

"Rogue, will you…"

"Marry you? Of course I will!" She cut him off again and they laughed over it. It was good time.

"So you don't need some big, romantic proposal and candlelight dinner?"

"And the song! Don't forget about the song!" she added dreamily. She'd cried when she heard the great lengths that Beast had gone to for his beloved. It was so old school romantic and sappy. At most other times in her life, she would have hated such thoughts. Now, she loved the idea of happy endings.

"So you aren't going to covet all of that?"

"Hell no! Storm's way higher maintenance than me. Besides, you can just make up for all that with the ring you buy me," she gave her cheesiest grin.

"I'll give you a big fancy wedding too," he offered.

"That a boy, Bobby! I knew I kept you around for some reason," she laughed. Really it was him who had waited and him who had kept her around, frustrated for so many years.

"It was worth the wait, baby," he assured, as if reading her mind.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Rogue," they embraced and held each other, savoring every moment they had together. Times were dark and things looked bleak for mutantkind. Rogue had her doubts that any of them would be alive after the war was over. Non-mutants still outnumbered mutants three to one. Many mutants were being killed or imprisoned every day and only a few groups and factions were even brave enough to band together.

Her thoughts landed on the rebel group that had surfaced in Israel, the Remnant. They had made it clear that they intended to fight the war and gave an open invitation to any mutant, regardless of race, gender, creed or color. She didn't know if the X-Men would join their cause. In fact, she doubted it highly. She supported them because of how much hope they sparked in people. Things didn't look so glum when someone took the initiative to take a stand and go against the flow of things. If anything, now that Forge was back, they could sell weapons to them to fund projects at the mansion. They would be helping mutants elsewhere too; it served two interests. Rogue made a mental not to bring them up in the next meeting. Jean and Scott would know what to do as far as all of that was concerned.

In the meantime, Rogue had enough to worry about on her own. She was going to be a mother in a little under a year's time.


	27. Capture the Flag

"So, you want to be a missionary in Africa?" Nightcrawler asked Lindsey. He seemed very interested in the whole thing. She liked the way that he spoke too. His German accent was thick, but it was pleasant to the ears.

"Yeah. I mean, not full-time but I always had such a heart to go there—those people need so much help, you know?" she replied ruefully.

"Yes. There are many hurting people in this world, especially on a continent with such a horrible AIDS epidemic," he added.

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons I was so attracted to the place. I wanted a chance to love the unlovable."

"You must be a person of great faith," he half-asked-half-stated.

"I guess. Are you a Christian?" she asked, trying to keep the focus off of her as much as possible. She was there for gymnastics instruction, which she was eager to get to.

"I'm a believer. I don't use the word 'Christian' anymore. People throw that word around so casually now, without understanding what it means to bear the name of Christ. When I tell people that I'm a believer, it raises much more questions and opens many more opportunities to share the good news," he articulated.

"You're Catholic, right?" she asked, hoping she didn't hit any wrong buttons by prying into his religious stances. She was curious to know, however. The Amazing Nightcrawler was somewhat of a legend in the mutant community.

"Yes, I am," he answered, both plainly and proudly. He looked at her as if her were waiting for her to reply—as if she had a favorable disposition on way or the other.

"Well, that's nice," was all that she could think of to say. That seemed to be adequate enough for him.

"I know that think you are just here for a gymnastics class, but I guess now is as good a time to tell you as any," he changed the subject.

"To tell me what?" she pondered.

"I am to be your private instructor. Jean feels that because there are some similarities in our powers, I would be the best X-Man to help you," he explained.

"Oh, so you're going to be for me what Jean is to Markas—sorry Hypno—and what Storm is to Vortex?" she asked for clarification.

"Precisely. Now, what is it exactly that you do?" he asked.

"I don't know if I can explain it as well as Jean can, I'll try to use the words she used. My powers thrive in darkness and won't work at all in bright light. The more I use my power the less tolerant I become of light, whether I'm in my shadow form or not," she started.

"Shadow form?" he echoed curiously. She decided that instead of explaining it, she would just show him. It was harder on her to change because the room was pretty well lit. But for a split second, she changed over.

"Even if I'm in total darkness, I can see as if it were daylight. I can travel instantaneously through empty space. I can't go through a wall or anything, as I'm told you can teleport through them. I can create clone spectres of to travel ahead of or behind me, to be my eyes and ears. Whenever I hit someone with my shadow energy, it cause intense and inexplicable pain and invokes fear on even strong psychics," she tried to keep to as much of Jean's language as she could manage.

"Is that all?" his eyes narrowed.

"I am also naturally resistant to telekinesis and telepathy—almost immune to both when I'm in my shadow form," she finished.

"Very interesting. It seems, Miss Basden, that you have been drafted to be trained as a stealth fighter. I'm glad because we are in such short supply around here. Kitty and myself have been the only stealth mutants for ages. It'll be good to have another one join the club," he smiled, revealing brilliantly white teeth. They showed up especially well next to his midnight blue skin.

She thought about what he'd said for a second: a stealth fighter. At first, she wanted to object to the whole thing, thinking that she should be trained strictly as a frontline, offensive fighter. As she gave it second thought, hitting the Brotherhood quick and fast, before they knew what hit them was an idea she was liking more and more by the minute. She couldn't deny that with her powers, she was perfectly suited for such a feat.

"It sounds great," she shrugged, smiling.

"Well then, there just remains one more thing to take care of."

"What's that," she asked, sounding more frustrated than she would've liked.

"You need an X-name. Every X-Man has one and now that you're a part of the team, you'll need one too. Any ideas?"

"Actually, I have been thinking this over. I was thinking along the lines of Spectre or Shadow or Whisper…something like that."

"Those are all good. Which do you like best?"

"I was going to go with Spectre, but Caleb and Markas—sorry, Shockwave and Hypno—came up with something better," she grinned slyly.

"What's that?"

"Nightmare," she said, trying the word out for herself.

"Nightmare? Why something so dark?"

"I wanted the name to sound cool, fearsome and all that—I think Nightmare does the trick. My powers work best at night. The main thing is because I hit Markas with a heavy dose of my shadow energy and he said that as painful as it was, the fear that it invoked was a thousand times worse. He said it was like being in a nightmare."

"Behold! Nightmare, the stealth warrior is born," he said with a smile and a dramatic hand gesture. She laughed at his sudden flair in personality. "So Nightmare it is?"

"Nightmare it is," she confirmed with a nod.

"Well, Nightmare let us get going with these classes, shall we?"

* * *

"There have been some new teams assembled. There are enough of you now to form two solid, well-rounded teams for the Danger Room sessions that require more people," Cyclops began to explain the new teams to the Jr. X-Men.

Caleb wasn't exactly excited. In a few minutes, he'd have to put on his 'Shockwave face' and start remembering everyone's X-names. He liked his mutant name and all, but he liked to be reminded every now and then that he was a normal person too. He decided that he would be one of those who went by his real name to those who he had known prior to his 'rebirth' as the X-Men referred to it. To anyone new that he met, he would introduce himself as Shockwave. He figured with one group of people calling him by one name, and another group calling him by another, he'd get the best of both worlds: getting in touch with his X-Identity and at the same time, keeping in mind where he'd come from.

"There are now going to be two team captains. Remember that these captains are to be treated with the same respect as you would one of the senior X-Men. Any undermining will be dealt with harshly. Hypno will remain the captain of team one. That team consists of Hypno, Lifestream, Stardust, Typo, and Vortex. The second team will be Palisade, Chrona, Nightmare, Shockwave and Druida. Shockwave will be the captain of that team," Cyclops finished. Caleb was stunned. He was a newcomer, a rookie, compared to most of them. It didn't seem like he had the seniority to take such a position. Then again, if Cyclops was the one appointing him, it would be far worse for him to argue with his judgment, than to take a position he didn't deserve.

"Team captains…wut-wut!" Markas came over to him and slapped him on the back.

"Apparently, it runs in the family," Caleb pointed out. It was kind of odd that the two team captains ended up being cousins. At least, Caleb thought it was odd.

"That's right…it's in the blood," Markas laughed.

"Your mission," Cyclops continued, "is going to be a series of games, so to speak. They will be no laughing matter, however. This triad tournament, as it's called, it going to pit your teams against each other as part of your training. There can be only one winner."

"Oh you are _so_ going down!" Markas gloated, suddenly stepping away from Caleb.

"Yeah right, we're gonna wail on you!" he shot back jokingly.

"HEY!" Cyclops yelled out, trying to maintain their attention. "As I just said, this is no laughing matter. The rules of the game are an 'anything goes' system. It's a combat situation against real people. You are always used to working a digital environment with digital enemies. Now, the enemies are real and they are people you know and love. You need the combat experience against mutant."

"Why? We're in a war against _non-mutants_. Shouldn't we continue to train with simulations that will further our skill in that area?" Adam, now called Typo, suddenly spoke up out of nowhere.

"Typo, when you're the leader of a team, you can decided how to train them. Until then, my decisions in this matter are not to be questioned. X-Men, is that understood?" he addressed the rest of them.

"Yes sir," many of them called back. Caleb didn't reply but he shared the sentiment. Cyclops was a hard man, made that way from years of combat, but Caleb still trusted his judgment.

"Thank you. Now, the first exercise you're going to undergo is a game of capture the flag. There is no tagging in this game, if you want to stop someone from taking your flag, use your mutant powers and the combat tactics that we've been teaching you. The only prisoners that you may take are _actual_ prisoners. You may guard the base with as many men as you wish, for as long as you see fit. Let me put it this way, _anything_ goes. The only rule is that you may not intentionally kill another player," Cyclops summed up. It sounded like bad news. Hot heads like Jake and Isaac were going to do some real damage in a situation like this. They were liable to tear each other to shreds.

_What are we being trained for, Caleb? Isn't this it?_

"What if we get hurt? Break a bone or something?" Stardust asked.

"If you are injured beyond being able to play, all you have to do is shout out the word, 'eject,' and Beast will remove you from the game. From there you will go to the infirmary for treatment. After the game is over, Lifestream will heal anyone who needs it," he explained.

"This isn't fair! They have Lifestream _on their team_. She can heal anyone during battle. They'll never lose any people," Palisade complained. He was right. Caleb didn't want to have to be the one to cross Cyclops, but he was glad someone was suicidal enough to probe him.

"Well then, you had better hope that your captain comes up with a strategy good enough to keep you all intact," was all that Cyclops offered. He looked over at Caleb and then continued his speech. "You have ten minutes to converse with your team before the simulation begins. Best of luck to you; may the best team win."

_This is so oh dear._

"Okay guys, huddle up and come over here," he said. Everyone, save Jake, followed suit.

"It's useless, we're nerfed. Whoever has Lifestream is the automatic winner. They just want to see how badly we're going to lose," he complained.

"Get over here, quit whining and help contribute something useful to the team," Caleb retorted, trying to sound more motivating than stern. It seemed like it was good enough to appease Palisade, however momentarily. They gathered around in a circle and Caleb began to sum up the situation as best he could.

"Okay, first let's take a look at their team. Who do they have?" he asked, giving others a chance to speak as often as possible.

"They have Vortex, Hypno, Lifestream, Stardust and the new guy," Chrona replied.

"Typo," Lindsey filled in the blank.

"Okay, let's take them apart piece by piece. Hypno is their captain, he's the only one on their team who can act as a defense with his telekinetic barriers. As long as we keep him occupied with that, he won't be able to do any crazy mind tricks on us," Caleb started.

"Vortex is going to be a problem. He can fly, he's fast and he hits hard," Palisade pointed out.

"He can also disrupt the skies so that I won't be able to use my bird form," Druida added.

"I don't know if this is going to be an issue, but if we're allowed to use field equipment, it'll be as good as useless because of my brother," Palisade said. Everything was going well. The team was getting some pretty valuable information out.

"Let's not forget about the most important part of their team," Lindsey reminded. "They have Lifestream ho can heal anyone we injure on the spot, and her power works in reverse on me for whatever reason."

"Okay, let's sum it up. Hypno is probably going to be defense, shielding whoever they choose to go after the flag, which I think will be Vortex. Vortex will be their heaver hitter, Lifestream will obviously be healing people, Stardust will probably be a ranged hitter, and Typo is there merely for support, in case we are able to use any equipment.

"Now, let's assess what we have at our disposal," Caleb suggested.

"As long as Vortex doesn't think to disrupt the winds, and I doubt he will because I agree that he's the best choice for them to send after our flag, I can act as a scout. I'll fly high enough to scope out everything that they are doing," Druida offered.

"Good. Druida, you are our scout."

"I could set a barrier around the flag so that they could never get to it," Palisade suggested.

"They would just find you and you'd be forced to shield yourself," Caleb pointed out.

"True," he agreed reluctantly.

"You _can_, however, act as our defense, putting a barrier around whoever we send for the flag, which is going to be Lindsey," Caleb decided. She looked at him bewildered.

"Why me?"

"You are our stealth. As long as you stay in the shadows you'll be able to move lightning fast and undetected. You can get in and get their flag before they know what hit them. They'll probably hide it in a dark, out of sight place anyway," Caleb pointed out. "Nightmare—love the name by the way."

"Thank you."

"Yeah, you're our stealth-slash-retriever."

"That leaves you and me," Chrona pointed out.

"Yes it does, and here's the plan. Your power gives you one up on everyone as far as to what's going to happen. You and I will guard the flag and you will let me know when to strike. They won't be getting up after I hit them," Caleb assured.

"Sounds good," she admitted.

"Okay guys, we can totally do this. Let's go talk to Cyclops and find out whether we can use field equipment or not," Caleb left the group motivated and pumped—ready to go. He went and stood before Cyclops.

"Yes?" Cyclops inquired, as soon as he was aware of Caleb's presence.

"You said that anything goes in these exercises, right?"

"I did say that," he replied curtly.

"Does that mean we can use field equipment?"

"That does seem to fell under the category of 'anything goes,' doesn't it?"

"It does, sir," Caleb answered with a smirk-smile. He already knew that he was going to get what he wanted.

"You man, in the six minutes that you have left, gather any and all supplies that you would like to have to aid you in this exercise. I would advise you to do it quietly so that the other team does not know," Cyclops hinted. He had a great point.

"Thank you sir," Caleb was ready to walk back to his team and tell them what was up, when Cyclops interrupted him.

"Shockwave."

"Yes sir?"

"Good work."

"Thank you, sir" and he ran back to his team, an idea already in his head.

His team looked at him with hopeful eyes, wondering if Cyclops would cut them the break they'd hoped for.

"Don't react to what I say, keep quiet because the other team doesn't know yet. Cyclops said that we can use anything we can think of and grab in six minutes. Here's what we're gonna do: Girls, go to the bathroom," he commanded.

"What? How does that help us?" Chrona asked.

"Girls _always_ go to the bathroom together but that's not where you're going. Grab everything that you think that we can use, especially those ear-communicator things."

"Coms?" Palisade offered.

"Yeah, coms—awesome. Grab all that you can, whatever we don't use can sit in a pile," Caleb suggested.

"So you don't want us to leave anything behind for the other team?" Druida asked. The idea was quite tempting, but his conscience kept him from doing it. If they were smart enough to think to grab equipment, then it was only fair that they were able to get some too.

"No, don't clean the place out, as if _that_ were possible, just grab things that would be useful to us but _don't_ forget the coms," he stressed. And so the girls left together out of the War Room.

"Where are you guys going?" Vortex demanded.

"The bathroom," Chrona shot back, as if she were aggravated that he would even ask her a question. Caleb looked and saw that Markas was concentrating, no doubt reading their minds. It was too late, the girls were already halfway to the supply room by now. The look on his face when he figured out what they were doing was quite priceless.

"Guys! Get to the supply room now! They're getting field equipment," there was a frenzy as the entire team scattered out of the room, frantically trying to get some of the supplies. The girls had already come in, hands full of stuff by the time they were leaving, huge smiles on their faces.

"Good work, ladies," Caleb beamed, looking over the stuff.

_You're going to need a lot more than communicators and flashbang grenades to beat us_, the tele came from Markas. It was not a hateful tone, but a playful-competitive one. Caleb knew he was right. Markas was powerful enough to have told his team what to do, and listened in on their planning at the same time. In a game, such trickery would be cheating, but in the mutant world, anything went.

Caleb was pleased when he saw that they had grabbed the neural helmets. They protected whoever wore them from telepathic attacks. He was displeased, however when he saw that there were only three of them.

"What gives? Were there only three helmets?" he asked.

"My power relies on my psyche being able to reach out. I'm powerful enough to keep Markas out of my head," Chrona assured.

"And I'm naturally resistant to telepathy and telekinesis," Lindsey pointed out.

"Okay, Druida, Palisade, we're going to wear these now. Markas could read our minds any moment and find out the plan," Caleb said, reaching for one the helmets.

_Oh Caleb, that hurts. Do you really think I would cheat just to_—Caleb cut him off when he pulled the helmet on and strapped it on.

"There…no more mind games " he said, knocking on the metallic shell.

"You think we can win this?" Lindsey asked him, sounding unsure.

"Of course I do! We're gonna dominate!" he interjected, loud enough so that everyone could hear.

"Yeah we are," Palisade, once reluctant was now alive with excitement. "They ain't gotta chance!"


	28. The Game

"Okay teams, prepare yourselves. The first simulation, capture the flag, will commence in just a minute. Best of luck to both teams," Cyclops said through the lookout of the Danger Room. Suddenly, the digital imagery began to activate in the Danger Room and an entirely new environment began to materialize before them. Soon, they were in a junkyard, a maze of cars and other machines. There were magnetic cranes on either side of the yard. The other team's base was about a quarter of a mile away from theirs. Lindsey took a look around. They were in what looked to be some sort of office with windows facing the length of the yard. The flag was on a stand in the back of the room, in open sight. Caleb must've caught it before she did.

"Okay, let's find a little bit less obvious place for this," he said aloud. The simulation had started and she could bet that the other team was already on their way. She knew the rules about these exercises though: no execution without delegation. She couldn't go ahead with her part of the job until Caleb—Shockwave—gave the order. She would have to start getting used to the whole X-name thing. She didn't have too much trouble remembering the others' names because most of them had introduced themselves with their X-names. For her and Caleb—Shockwave—she would have to try a little harder. They could, however, ask for orders.

"Orders, sir?" she asked, half-serious-half-jokingly, the only language Shockwave spoke or heard.

"Oh yeah…orders…yee-ha. Okay, Palisade, Nightmare, go get their flag and get it fast. Druida, bird form and start scouting…Chrona, we're holding down the fort," he delegated. He gave a hand motion that said, "make it so." She looked over at Palisade and he gave her a nod. They walked out of the small building and into the yard and could already feel the change in the wind. Vortex was no doubt taking flight from somewhere. They looked up and could see him making a beeline for their fort in the air. No doubt there would be a telekinetic shield around him to protect him.

"Can you get rid of the telekinetic shield around him?" Palisade asked slyly. He was clearly thinking the same thing as she was. The junkyard setting was at night with only streetlights around the border to light it. She could move around quick as a whisper and even take flight as long as she wasn't in the direct beam of a light. She also knew that her shadow energy would completely cancel out the telekinetic shield because of her power.

"Can you create a barrier from this far away?" she asked, filling in the blanks for the second part of the plan. Poor Vortex. He'd never know what hit him.

_Or what he hit_, she felt bad for making light of it. He could really get hurt with what they were planning to do to him. Lifestream could heal him lickity split but they were still going to injure him. She conjured a shadowy spectre of herself and sent it as fast as she could towards Vortex. She saw, through the eyes of her spectre, the blurry, spherical haze protecting him. It was Hypno's shield. She forced the spectre to kamikaze into it full force.

She could no longer see through the spectre as it dissipated so she transformed into her shadow form so that her vision would be enhanced. Instantly, darkness was as day to her and she could see that the shield was gone.

"Okay, the shield's gone. Do it before Hypno sets up another one," she urged him, grimacing.

A pink wall suddenly appeared in front of Vortex, which he crashed into headfirst. He reminded Lindsey of a bird when it runs into a glass window at full speed. He spiraled to the ground, landing hard on a pile of cars. He rolled to the ground, and other than the steady rise and fall of his chest, he was not moving.

"Oh, I hope he's okay," she knew they couldn't check. Cyclops would be livid. She understood what he was trying to do: train them to be seasoned for combat. At that moment, Vortex was their enemy.

"Let's go," they moved as quickly as their feet would let them. She could've moved a lot faster if she wasn't with Palisade. She was sure, however, that she would soon come to appreciate his protection.

"Stardust sees you guys and it won't be long before she starts in with a shower of sparkles. Be careful," Druida radioed to them.

"Druida, can you sneak up on her and take care of her?" Caleb suddenly asked over the com. She and Palisade held still, keeping behind a broken car.

"I'll see what I can do," she replied. No doubt, she was morphing into one of her strange creatures and seeking Stardust out.

"Guys! Keep the talking to a minimum. My brother can retrieve radio signals too!" Palisade warned. "Let's get moving again," he said to Lindsey. She gladly complied, sneaking around, weaving in and out of cars. The night air, or the simulation thereof was cold and wet. It felt as if it had just rained or was about to. That would certainly add some interesting aspects to the whole thing. Suddenly, a brilliant explosion of white light hit the car window next to her head. She put her hands over her face to keep the glass shards away. More explosions lit up the yard with a flashy bang. It was coming from Stardust, that much was apparent. One of the smaller, residual sparks hit her in the arm and she yelped in pain.

It shouldn't have hurt as badly as it had, but the reason was clear. She was just as allergic to Stardust's power as she was to Lifestream's. That probably meant that they were resistant to hers. A direct hit from one of her sparkles would case a lot more damage to her than to anyone else.

"Can I get a shield, please?" it wasn't a question at all. Soon a pink, translucent sphere enveloped them. The sparkles exploded outside the shield, leaving them completely unscathed. She welcomed the shelter. Since the hue of the shield was so neon and pink, they were easy targets whenever Palisade had his shield up, a downside to his power. They would have to hope that Druida took care of Stardust quickly, so that they didn't have to approach the enemies' camp in their state—a bright beacon saying, "here we come!"

* * *

Druida was soaring high above the yard in her bird form. She could see everything, clear as day and from far away. Even though she was a scout, she'd been given the mission of eliminating Stardust, who was making quite some trouble for Nightmare and Palisade. She opened her wings and dove downward, zooming towards Stardust at an unruly rate. Since Vortex was no longer in the sky, flight was easy for her. At jus the right altitude, she flared up her wings to slow her descent, landing soundlessly behind her target. Stardust was her friend on any other day but today. She didn't want to face Cyclops for hesitating in battle.

She began to morph into her human form. She thought, for a split second, as to which form would be best to fight Stardust with and none came to mind. She wanted to show off how apt she was to combat anyway. They were on a high ledge and falling would mean certain injury, though only a deliberate dive would result in death. If Beast thought, even for a moment, that one of them were in mortal danger, he would take all the necessary measures to cushion a fall, lighten or blow or whatever. One could fill in the blank with whatever scenario; the point was that Beast was really in control of everything.

She hoped she'd be able to give Stardust one good shove off of the stacks of wrecked cars she'd climbed up, but she had no such luck. Her foe turned and faced her just in time. They didn't speak; they just started fighting. At the range she was at, Stardust couldn't afford to use her sparkles because the blast of one could send both of them flying off the platform. Hand-to-hand combat was the only way to go and Druida was glad. She was the much better fighter of the two of them and had proved it in countless sparring matches. She had never lost to Stardust and she didn't plan on today being any different.

She struck first, attempting a jab to the face…blocked. They circled each other, fists raised for combat. Stardust tried a front kicked, easily blocked and Druida countered with a punch to the solar plexus and a punch to the chin. Her friend lost her balance and she kicked to knock her off the platform. She wasn't swift enough. Stardust caught her leg, spun in towards her, giving her a backhand to the cheek. Druida felt her good foot being lifted from under her and suddenly she could see the stars. She didn't have time to hesitate. She whirled her body and her legs around, catching Stardust off balance. That gave them both time to get back to their feet and go for round two.

They engaged again, punching, kicking, blocking and dodging. It was all instinct now, she realized. Cyclops had promised her that she would become a much better fighter when everything that she'd been taught became like second nature to her.

A blow to the cheek caught her off guard. She endured a punch to the gut and a kick to the knee. Stardust followed up with a quick uppercut to the chin, sending her stumbling backwards. A white-hot spark hit her squarely in the chest. She felt herself falling off the platform and she grabbed the inside of a car window for support. She dangled there, unable to gain footing a climb up. She had to think of something soon.

_You're a metamorph_…_use your head_.

She used her feet to kick off as she vaulted herself into empty space. She flipped backwards and dove towards the ground headfirst, morphing as she fell. She was in her bird form quick enough to take flight before she hit. The black and gray feathers kept her camouflaged in the night sky. She circle around to the cars and morphed back into human form. She was on a different stack of cars, about ten piles away from Stardust. She bolted towards her and Stardust began firing. Druida dodged, left, right, ducked, jumping from car to car, careful to keep her balance.

She leapt through the air, morphing as she went, into her panther form. She landed on all fours, dark and sheik as the night. Soon she was picking up speed, covering car jumps in single bounds. She dove forward and forced her panther body to flip around, against its instinct as she morphed into her human form. Her kick hit Stardust in the gut, the momentum, enough to send her flying off the pile of cars and into another one. She watched as she fell down onto the yard ground with thud. Druida saw that she was moving around a little, not dead or unconscious but still not going anywhere for a while.

"Stardust is taken care of, Captain," she announced, reaching for her communicator in her ear, "any other orders?"

"Good work, Druida. Get back in the air and keep scouting. Keep us posted with anything we should know," Shockwave ordered from the other end.

"Yes sir," and she was in her bird form again. Soon she was up high, looking down on the yard again. She could see that Lifestream was trying to sneak to Vortex and heal him. That could mean seriously bad news for Druida. She'd be unable to fly if Vortex decided to take to the skies again. She didn't have time to unmorph, speak to Shockwave, remorph and stop her. If Lifestream was successful in reviving Vortex, there was no way that Druida could fight them both off.

_That's not your job, Mereani_, she reminded herself, _you're a scout_.

She had been the captain of the team before Shockwave had come along. She always thought that she'd done a fine job. Shockwave was much better suited for the job, because of his natural leadership abilities and she respected that. She had earned her stripes enough to make a decision she knew he'd give her permission to do. She circled down and went for Lifestream. Just as she slowed her descent, she unmorphed and tackled Lifestream to the ground.

She didn't expect to lose this fight either. The shy girl was never very good at hand-to-hand combat. As Lifestream was getting to her feet, Druida decided not to give her the chance and she kicked at her, aiming for her head. The attack was blocked and Lifestream pulled out a handgun from a holster on her belt and aimed it at Druida's chest.

The blue-green blast hit her like a ton of bricks, sending her flying into the pile of cars behind her. She recognized the gun all too well…it was one of the plasma weapons specifically designed to drop a foe in a single shot, without killing them. Her vision began to fade to black as she lost consciousness.

* * *

Lindsey and Palisade continued sneaking towards the enemies' camp as soon as Druida initiated attack with Stardust. They had covered a little more than the halfway distance before their trek was interrupted. With Vortex and Stardust out of the way, all they'd have to worry about was Hypno. They'd send Lifestream out to heal her fallen comrades, and all that Typo could do was deactivate their coms.

_Not true—flashbang grenades could be pretty deadly to you as well._

Adam did not possess the same stopping power as Hypno or Shockwave, but he was more than capable of throwing a grenade. No matter what, she'd have to be on her guard.

As long as Hypno didn't have flashbangs too, she'd have no trouble handling him because of her natural resistance to his powers. She would not dare tussle with Lifestream or Stardust. Everyone else had the advantage of being able to have Lifestream heal them if they got hurt. She had to heal the traditional way if she was injured—over time.

They felt the wind pick up again, which could only mean that Lifestream had put him back in business. It also meant that she had to be somewhere close to where he'd fallen, and not near the base where she would pose a threat to her. That only left Typo and Hypno unaccounted for.

"There it is!" Palisade pointed. She followed his gaze to the enemies' base, an identical—no—mirror image of their own base. Their flag was sitting brazenly out in the open where everyone could see it. The room was also very well lit so she would have to rely on Palisade to protect her. It seemed to be unguarded, but Lindsey knew better than that. One of the two unaccounted for would be there to jump out a moment's notice.

"Can you maintain your shield from this far away?" she asked.

"Yeah. Go get it. I'll stay here and make sure nothing gets you. Go!"

She wasted no more time, running full speed towards the base. Suddenly, Palisade's shield materialized around her just as car seat smashed into it. It bounced off, leaving her unharmed but a split second later and she would have been hit in the head. Markas—Hypno—was on the roof of their base. He picked up, with his power, of course, two more random things lying about in the junkyard with intention to throw them at Lindsey. She moved forward slowly as the shield moved with her. She still couldn't help but jump when the pieces of rubble smashed noisily into the sphere protecting her. Scary as it was, she was protected; Hypno could not break the barrier.

A flashbang grenade went off behind her and her shield disappeared. Adam, decked out with all kinds of guns, armor and other gadgets, came from where Palisade was hiding. Whatever he'd done to Palisade, she was no longer protected and that meant she was left to fight the two of them alone.

She shadowported, a word she and Nightcrawler had invented. It wasn't teleporting as he did but it was just as fast, and she had to be in her shadow form to do it. She grabbed Markas in a chokehold that Gambit had taught her and flooded him with as much deliberate shadow energy as she could muster.

He screamed in pain and fear, whirling and writhing around like a madman. When he turned, intense pain suddenly radiated through her body and she was forced back into her regular state. It was Typo, shining a hi-beam flashlight at her. It was sad that her power could be rendered useless by something so simple as light. Hypno, no longer affected by her shadow energy flipped her over his shoulder and vaulted her across the roof. She fought to grab hold of something but she couldn't find anything. For a split second, the light was no longer trained on her. She transformed and shadowported behind Typo. Taking advantage of her position, she snagged the remaining two flashbang grenades from his belt and knocked the hi-beam out of his hand. She pulled the pins on the grenades and shadowported again behind Hypno. She threw the grenades on the roof on either side of Markas and ported behind a car before they ignited. She plugged her ears but the bang was still quite loud. At least she didn't have to be exposed to the magnesium flash; it was likely to knock her out if she were too close.

Her thoughts fell briefly on her memory of her fight with Hybrid. She shuddered at what his flashbang grenade had done to her.

_It nearly killed me._

She knew that she was nearly invincible in the dark, but every day she became more aware of how vulnerable she was in the light. It was time to stop thinking and start acting.

She shadowported and punched Typo in the face, shadowported and dealt him a sucker punch to the ear. She continued her attack, mimicking the patters that Nightcrawler had showed her. Even with all of his fancy gear, he was no match for her in the darkness. He tried to hit her with a stun gun but she ported away and knocked it from his hand.

She gripped his head in her hands and glared in his eyes, showering him with shadow energy. Something new was happening now. The longer she held on, the more of Adam's fears she was able to see. Trivial, instinctive fears such as falling down and loud, sudden noises were the ones that she saw first. Then fears of being alone, self-esteem fears, and finally childhood fears of boogeymen and werewolves came up. Against his will, he was showing her everything he was afraid of.

She also learned all of the things that he was ashamed of, the things he was afraid that people would find out. She learned his dark secrets that he wouldn't tell anyone, prying them from his mind.

_I'm feeding off of it_, she realized. It was energizing her. It was invigorating and intoxicating. She wanted more but she feared that if she held on too much longer, she would kill him.

She watched as streaks of white appeared in his hair as streams fell from his bloodshot eyes. She let go and he dropped to the ground in a fetal position, unable to do anything but try to cope with the pain of his worst nightmares. It was time to end the game so that he could be healed. She felt guilty about hurting him and Hypno, but she felt guiltier about the emotional trauma she'd caused him.

She felt as if she knew him better now, and in some ways, she did. She knew his worst fears and secrets, the things you don't tell anyone. The thing that bothered her the most out the entire thing was how much pleasure she'd taken out of seeing his pain. It was as if she were a leech of his dark thoughts—a vampire of the mind. She would have to talk to Jean as soon as the game was over. She snatched the flag and ported to Palisade. She'd only recently learned that she could port people with her but it gave them the same effect as if she were attacking them. He wouldn't like it, but it'd be over quickly. She ported, moving lightning fast over the junkyard with Palisade in her grasp. She landed in their base and touched their flag with the enemies', ending the game. It was over; she'd won it for them.

"Congratulations, Team B. You win the game," Cyclops announced over the intercom. The holograms disappeared and her team, minus Druida and Palisade came over to her.

"Good job! Whoa! Lin! What's up with your hair?" Caleb asked her with a bewildered look.

"What?" she asked. She went to look into the mirror in the girls' dressing room. She gasped. Her hair had dark brown, almost black streaks in it. It was the same shade as Typo's hair.

* * *

"Okay, lemme get this straight: kind of like how Rogue steals peoples memories and mutants' powers, only I steal their darkest thoughts and their hair color?" Lindsey was trying to make sense of it all and it was sounding pretty ridiculous to say out loud.

"In so many words, yes. The effects on others seems to be temporary but it appears as if you'll retain those streaks you stole from Adam," she replied.

"His hair went back to normal?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes…well it will eventually. You didn't completely change the hair down to the root, it'll grow back in his natural color."

"Well, at least we won't have a bunch of white-haired people running around here," she joked running her fingers through and examining her hair.

"Storm and Rogue have naturally white hair—Storm a little more so than Rogue."

"What is the point in stealing peoples' hair color, except to make mine look like a beautician's failed experiment?" she pondered.

"I'm not sure it serves any practical purpose at all. Sometimes, our mutations can have side effects that we do not understand—some of them seemingly useless. I'm sure you can color it out," Jean encouraged.

"I'll have to! I look like Halloween with this black against red," she smiled, holding a lock of her hair.

"I'll have Jubilee get you all fixed up. She's got some really good stuff she uses."

"Do you color your hair or is that natural?" Lindsey had been waiting to ask her. Jean's hair always appeared bright red to the root, as if it were natural. Her color was so bright and vivid it didn't seem real sometimes.

"This is all me, believe it or not. It's been like this since I was a baby."

"Lucky you. I have to color mine to keep it like this. My natural color is kind of a reddish blonde, but it's not as bright as I'd like it to be—hence the color."

"It looks good on you. You might want to consider getting a streaky style now that your powers seem to gain you a little extra color," Jean suggested.

"That's a good idea. I could use a fresh look anyway. Can't have two many red heads around," she smiled brightly. "Well then, I guess I'm off to Jubilee's salon."

"Okay, take care of yourself, Nightmare."

"Thanks, Jean."

"Hey…are you okay? I mean, are you doing okay? I know this adjustment, living here and dealing with your losses can't be the easiest thing to deal with," she winced and Jean's words.

"It hasn't been and it's still not easy. I'm doing alright though, really. It's been easier since I know someone here and everyone's been real nice so far," she looked away. She didn't mean for 'so far' to sound as if she expected people to start being mean to her now.

"Don't worry about Adam. I talked to him and he's fine about the whole thing," Jean assured, obviously reading her mind.

"I'm still gonna apologize to him. Can I be honest with you about something?" Lindsey asked, daring to change the subject.

"Sure."

"I don't think that the tournament was a good idea. If we're a team, we should learn to work together, not against each other," she heard a little bit of Caleb's blunt honesty oozing out as she spoke. Spending so much time with him had rubbed off on her.

"Your team won, I never told you congratulations. If you feel that way, you should talk to Cyclops," she suggested, as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

"He just gave us a speech about not questioning his authority," Lindsey objected.

"He's a little different one-on-one than he is when he's leading. Really, you should talk to him. He's not going to blast you or anything," she laughed. Lindsey wasn't going to cross Cyclops and Jean knew that. Was this her nice way of avoiding what she thought of Lindsey's opinion?

_I'm not a mind-reader, she is_, Lindsey reminded herself.

"Maybe…I don't know if I'm willing to take that chance," Lindsey joked.

"You could always get Caleb to say something. He has no trouble speaking his mind and I'm sure he feels the same way," Jean offered.

"That's way too much testosterone in one place," she raised her eyebrows thinking of what a catastrophe it could be. Jean laughed.

"You're probably right about that one. Take care, Lindsey," she called as Lindsey was leaving.

"You too, Jean," and so she was off to makea hair appointment.


	29. A Night On The Town

Lindsey stepped into the elevator and her cell phone rang after she pressed the button to go to the main floor. It was her new one, the one the X-Men had issued her. She still held on to the old one, praying for the miracle that Nathan might call her.

She'd just left the evaluation room. A few days had passed since the triad tournament was over. She checked the ID on her phone; it was Caleb.

"Yes?" she asked with a grin as she answered.

"Hey! What are you doing tonight?" Cyclops had given them the day of since he, and most of the other Sr. X-Men had gone on a mission. He was supposed to stay and train them but when business calls, you could expect him to answer.

"Haven't made plans yet. I do know that I'm getting my hair done this afternoon, if Jubilee's not busy and I know that I am going _way_ off my diet since Cyclops is outta town."

"For sure! Keep this on the D-L, but a few of us are sneaking off campus tonight for a night on the town!" he said excitedly.

"We're not allowed to leave," she objected.

"Hence, the sneaking. They all want to go to one of those under eighteen dance clubs, which I'm not so thrilled about. I was going to talk a few of us into going to see a movie instead. Whaddya say?"

"I say…you're crazy…Cyclops is going to kill us…and…count me in!" she couldn't resist the chance to have a normal Friday night in New York City. She'd never even been to the city since she'd arrived at the mansion. Come to think of it, she'd never even left the grounds.

_No wonder I have cabin fever._

"Awesome! We're meeting in the commons at five-forty-five. The move starts at seven which gives us plenty of time to grab a bite first," he said. She looked at her watch. That also left her plenty of time to get her hair done.

"Okay, I'm gonna see if Jubilee will do my hair, so if you need me, I'll be in the salon."

"Cool. I might stop by."

"Who's going for sure?" she asked.

"You, me, Markas, Isaac, Jake, and Serena for sure. Adam said "maybe," Mereani said "no," but she promised not to tell on us and Courtney said she might come too."

"What about Lifestream?"

"Oh! Holy wow, I completely forgot to ask her. I don't think she's much of a sneaking out for a night on the town kind of girl though."

"I'm sure she'd still liked to be included. You should call and ask her, even if she says no."

"Okay, I will. See ya at five-forty-five!" he hung up after they said their goodbyes. She went through her phone book and found Jubilee's number. She waited patiently as it rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Jubilee. It's Lindsey—the new girl—Nightmare."

"Oh, hey girl, what's up?"  
"I don't know if Jean talked to you or not, but she tells me that you do hair and that you can help me with my current emergency."

"Yeah, she called me. I'd be glad to fix you up!" she sounded excited.

"Really? Thanks."

"No problem, girl. I love doing hair. What time you thinking?"

"If you could do it now, that'd be great."

"Now's fine. I'll meet you in the salon!"

"Okay, thanks again Jubilee."

"No problem. Seeya!"

"Bye."

_New hairdo and a night on the town—this keeps getting better and better._

She snatched a snack from the kitchen and another for Jubilee and headed for the salon.

* * *

"You do makeup too?" Lindsey asked, looking at Jubilee's array of beauty supplies.

"Yeah, girl. I'm a cosmetologist—beauty's my thing. I do nails, hair, makeup—the works."

"I bet that works out well for everyone here."

"Mostly, I just cut hair—Beast's hair more specifically. Not too much need for looking good on a battlefield, you know?"

"You're always decked out," Lindsey retorted, looking Jubilee over.

"Personal Preference. Speaking of which, what're we doin her—a quick color, a cut, a makeover?"

"You'd give me a makeover?" Lindsey asked in disbelief.

"And I'd love every minute of it. Besides, you've got to look good for your night on the town," she winked at her. Lindsey tightened up.

"How'd you know?" she gasped. Her evening was foiled.

"Relax girl, I ain't gonna tell," she assured. Lindsey looked at her in the mirror from the chair in disbelief. She was serious.

"When I was your age, they treated me like a kid and never let me have any fun. Call this my revenge by letting you guys have a night on the town when they kept me inside."

"Couldn't you get in trouble?"

"Being an X-Man is nothing something they can fire me from. I'll just play dumb if you guys get caught anyway."

"How'd you find out?"

"Stardust told me. We're best friends remember. Shoot, I may go with you guys. I could use a night on the town just as much as you."

"Oh that's right. Your Stardust's personal trainer or whatever."

"Yeah I'm also her cosmetology teacher so pretty soon. It worked out real nice Jean sticking us together. How's your training with Nightcrawler going?"

"Good, I guess. He's kinda strange."

"You get used to him. He's a real nice guy," she assured. She reached for a spray bottle and a comb. "Okay, what're we gonna do?"

"I need streaks with lotsa colors. Kinda like yours but I don't want it as short," Lindsey said, "Otherwise, make me over—I'm in your hands."

"Okay then, here we go," she smiled slyly. She went to get some color and Lindsey began to daydream. They made small talk conversation as she worked on her.

After an hour or so, a familiar southern accent invaded the room.

"Hey Jubi, I got good news—Oh! I didn't know you was working, girl. Sorry," she turned to leave.

"Rogue, no it's good! The more the merrier. What's the good news?"

"Nightmare, you think you can keep a secret?"

"My lips are sealed," she made the 'zipped lips' motion.

"Alright then. How do I say it. Bobby and I are…"

"Getting married?" Jubilee demanded excitedly. She was like a big teenager, Lindsey decided.

"Well, yes but that's not all…we're also expecting…"

Jubilee dropped her tools on the floor, screamed like a little girl, jumped up and down and clapped her hands like a kid at Christmas. She wrapped Rogue in a hug and they danced around the salon a little bit. Lindsey stood up and gave Rogue a hug when Jubilee finally let go.

"Congratulations, Rogue," she said sweetly.

"Thanks, girl. By the way, I love the hair. Jubilee's really fixed you up," she said, as if the baby subject was done being discussed.

"Oh my gosh, like, how long have you known?"

"Just a few days."

"Have you told Bobby?" Jubilee asked dumbly.

"Well of course I've told Bobby…sheesh, Ju," Rogue shook her head. "Don't tell anyone, I want to get to be the one that says something."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so excited for you!" Jubilee said loudly. She screamed again. Rogue looked over at Lindsey and narrowed her eyes.

"And I was worried about _you_ keeping a secret," she _tsk-tsked_ her lips and shook her head again. "Well, I just wanted to drop by and tell you. I'm making my rounds and telling everyone. But if you see someone, don't say something because I might not've told em yet."

"Okay, Rogue. Mums the word. I'll keep it quiet," Jubilee promised.

"You too," Rogue pointed to Lindsey, raising her eyebrows.

"Quiet as a mouse," Lindsey promised.

"Okay girls, I'll let you get back to playin' dress up. Bye!" she skipped out of the room ready to bring the joyous news to someone else.

"That's so great for them. They never thought she'd be able to touch people, let alone have children…wow…that's evolution for you," Jubilee said. She got back to work and after a few inches, some layers, a razor, and lots of color treatments, and conditioners, Lindsey had a completely new look.

Her hair was just above her shoulders and it flared out all over the place. Her base color was black and she had streaks of blonde, red, copper, brown and white. She wasn't so sure about the white at first but it was a very cool hairstyle that was for sure. Lindsey didn't know what to think about it. It was a lot like Jubilee's and her hair looked great—on her. She didn't know if she pulled off the look very well. She told Jubilee what she thought.

"Girl, we ain't done yet. I still gotta hook you up with some clothes, jewelry, makeup and nails. If you don't like it when I'm all done, then I'll take you back to red," she promised.

"Okay…I'm skeptical still though," she admitted.

"Well let's make a believer out of you, shall we?"

* * *

Caleb looked at the clock and saw that it was almost six o'clock. Lindsey was late and he didn't want to leave without her.

"Where is she?" Jake demanded.

"Call her phone!" Serena suggested.

"Wait, I think that's her now," Hypno said. He wasn't looking but he could sense people's thoughts so they took his word for it. Caleb shot his eyes over to the stairs and his mouth dropped as she walked down.

She was clearly dressed in some of Jubilee and Rogue's clothes, that much was apparent. She wore shin-high, shiny black boots with heels, boot cut jeans, a rusty red vintage T-shirt, and a long sleeve, black leather jacket that was cut off at the mid-section. From her ears dangled some of Jubilee's signature, silver hoop earrings. Her hair was no longer red, but several colors, and it was shorter too. She didn't even look like the same person. Lisa, Courtney and Serena rushed to her.

"Oh my gosh! You look so good! I'm so jealous," Courtney laughed. Lindsey spun around so everyone could see.

"I love the hair," Serena said, running her fingers through her own hair as if she was considering the look for herself.

"You look nice, Lindsey," Lisa said simply. She walked over to Caleb. He must have looked like a total idiot because all he could do is stare at her, wide-eyed and mouth open.

"Well, what do you think? I know it's a bit much and these clothes really aren't me but…"

"You look great," he finally managed.

"Yeah, a girl looking that good should go anywhere alone…lemme be your escort for tonight," Isaac suddenly blurted, stepping forward.

"Thanks, but I already promised Caleb that he could be my bodyguard," she winked at him. He couldn't imagine her having a good time with Isaac. He wanted to go to a dance club and Lindsey was the furthest thing from the clubbing type.

"Psh, I see how it is. I keep my distance, don't worry," Isaac looked at Caleb indignantly.

"It's not like that," he started to say. He just left it alone. He didn't have to explain himself to anyone, least of all to Isaac. He wasn't going to let anything get in the way of him having a good evening with his friends.

"Shall we?" he asked.

"Let's blow this hotdog stand," she suggested with a smile. And so they began to sneak out and find ways into town. As it stood, Courtney, Isaac, Jake and Serena were going to a nightclub and Caleb, Lindsey, Markas and Lisa were going to a movie. They were split right down the middle. They had all decided to go and get dinner at the same place so at least they could spend some of the evening together.

"Adam decided not to go?"

"He had obligations to his guild," Jake replied.

"His what?" Lindsey asked.

"His guild on his online game. They need his priest to be a healer for an instance they're gonna run tonight," he replied, as if she was supposed to know what that meant.

"He'd rather play computer games than come with us?" she asked in disbelief.

"Oh well…his loss," Caleb interjected, hoping that it would end the conversation. Pretty soon they'd be at the restaurant and all would be well. Food was the one thing that all of them had in common and it would be a good experience to bring them together, he thought. They'd decided on his favorite restaurant of all-time too, so he was pretty exited.

_This is gonna be great_, the thought to himself as they took turns letting Markas move them over the wall so they didn't have to climb. He was almost tempted to have Markas and Isaac fly them there, but it was of the utmost importance that they didn't attract any attention. They decided to take the subway, the cheapest and easiest way around anywhere in New York. They had arrived and were seated in a lot less time than they'd thought.

Dinner was good. No one brought up religion or politics, the two table conversation no-no's, so everything was nice. They split up and went their separate ways, on group to a dance club and one group to a movie. The evening had gone by just fine and they were able to pass as normal, non-mutant people. They had to be sure and steer clear of any places that the MCA were doing checks at the door.

You could feel the entire atmosphere stiffen whenever an MCA patrol car drove by. It was so hard to pretend to be a casual human when in reality they were all part of a mutant liberation task force. The X-Men were probably on the top of the enemy list for the MCA. There were times during the night that Caleb thought that it might've been a bad idea for them to come out at all, but the risk made it that much more worth it.

_You won't say that if the MCA discover you and you cause a shoot out in the middle of New York City_, he reminded himself. He looked over at Lindsey. She was always a pretty girl, but she absolutely stunning tonight. He'd never seen her look so good, even when she was in her Sunday's best. She was having fun and he could tell. He hadn't seen her laugh and smile so much since she'd arrived at the mansion. When she smiled, it made all the risk and worry worth it.

"We're going to the bathroom," she whispered to him, in the middle of the movie. She meant her and Lisa. Interesting custom, he thought, girls going to the bathrooms in groups. He could understand it in a city like New York and with them being mutants and all. He lifted his legs so that they could scoot past. He wondered what they were talking about while they were gone.

"So is there something going on between you two?" Markas whispered to him.

"You can read my mind so you know that there's not," Caleb rolled his eyes in response.

"Do you want there to be?"

"No, we're just friends, that's all. Nothing more," he insisted.

"Uh huh…she's a pretty girl," Markas pointed out.

"Yeah, she's beautiful but that doesn't mean I want a relationship," Caleb pointed out.

"If you don't make a move, I'm going to," Markas warned.

"She'd turn you down," Caleb sneered.

"Still grief-stricken over the dead boyfriend?"

"You know 'the dead boyfriend' is Nathan Henson, right?"

"Oh wow, she was dating him?"

"Yeah," Caleb replied. He was surprised Markas didn't know.

"Oh that's too bad. I always liked Nathan," he bit his lip, troubled.

"Yeah, he was a good guy, one of my best friends. Anyway, shut up about it, they're coming back," Caleb shot back.

_It's not like we need to use words to speak_, Markas laughed in his mind.

_We're not supposed to be talking during a movie anyway_, Caleb objected.

_Is this technically talking because I don' think_…

"Shhh!" Caleb interjected out loud, cutting Markas off. He laughed and someone else gave them a 'shhh' of their own.

_You're gonna get us kicked out_, Caleb thought, unsure if Markas had closed the link or not. There was no reply, so he could only assume that Markas had returned his attention to the movie. Caleb did the same. Soon the movie was over and they decided to meet up with the rest of the group in Central Park. They decided to sit and watch the stars and talk.

"You wanna go for a walk?" Lindsey asked, looking at Caleb.

"Sure," Caleb said. He'd never seen Central Park before.

"Anyone else wanna come?" she asked the group. No one seemed interested. Lisa looked like she might've wanted to go but didn't look like she had the courage to speak up.

_Her loss_, Caleb thought. He didn't mean to be cold to shy people but sometimes he did. He didn't understand why people couldn't just speak their mind and say what they wanted. It was clear that Lisa wanted to go, but felt uncomfortable for whatever reason to speak up and say so, even when asked. She'd learn to get out of her shell eventually. Most introverted people did when they spent any time around Caleb, he noticed.

He and Lindsey circled around the park, not really saying anything. They went over a bridge and stopped to watch the water run underneath of it. They leaned on the edge and looked up at the stars. They could still hear the noises of the city in the background. It was a good moment. A gentle breeze came through and they welcomed it with open arms. A small leaf spiraled down off of a tree and onto the water. Lindsey pointed as it passed by.

"I guess fall can't be too far away," she kept her gaze on the leaf as it floated away.

"Yeah, I'll bet this place is great to watch the leaves turn," Caleb admitted. Even though he'd never been much of the outdoors type, he still admired nature and all of its beauty.

"We'll have to sneak out again a few months from now and come see for ourselves."

"Really? You never struck me as the rule-breaking type, but now you're conspiring future plans of escape before the night is even over. You should be ashamed!" he joked.

"Tonight was great, Caleb. It was exactly what I needed, you know—to be reminded that I'm still…" she trailed off.

"Normal," he offered.

"Yeah. I understand we have to be careful with everything that's going on. We're living in a time where it's illegal to be a mutant. I know it's dangerous but it's worth the risk," she exclaimed.

"I agree. I'll be honest with you, I'm really getting into this whole X-Men thing. I'm going to give my all to it, help the people who need it and stop the people who are causing it," he added.

"Mindflare started this whole thing," she reminded.

"Yeah, but it was only a matter of time. They were already forcing mutants to register and doing nation-wide checks before he came on the scene. I don't agree with what he did, but the problem was there long before the attack."

"You're right. I got fired from my job just because I was a mutant. I even registered, thinking that if I was open about it, no one would mind. Boy, was I wrong…" she trailed off again and looked troubled.

"What's the matter?"

"I was just thinking about the future," she gazed up at the stars again.

"Yeah, it doesn't so hot for us does it?"

"Oh, you mean mutants. I was just talking about me."

"What do you think the future holds for you, Lin? Still want to do missions work in Africa?"

"I'd love to have the chance, but I just don't see it happening anymore. Who knows how long this war is going to go on? We may be in our thirties before it's all over, and that's assuming that we survive."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm an X-Man now…excuse me X-Woman," she smirked.

"I don't think X-Man is gender specific, it includes women too," Caleb shot back.

"I'm just glad that you came to my rescue when you did, Caleb. The MCA would have captured me and I'd be in prison right now if it weren't for you. Now, I have a second chance at a new life with you and the X-Men. I can't tell you how grateful I am," she sputtered a little with her words.

"You just did. I'm glad that I found you too. I have to say that it's been great having you as a part of the team," he didn't mean for it to sound so official.

"Just part of the team?"

"Well, you're good company too, I guess," he smiled.

"I guess?"

"You're too hard to please."

"I don't think so," she rested an arm on his shoulder. He looked into her eyes and she looked into his. For a moment it was as if they could see each others' souls. He drew her in closer to him and she didn't resist. He looked longingly at her and leaned in to kiss her. She drew in to meet his attempt but then turned away when they were only breath's width away. She scrambled and tensed, freeing herself from his hold. He let her go.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…well…" he didn't know what to say. He knew how she felt: she was still grieving over Nathan. She wasn't ready to start something with him. What was he thinking!

_Ugh, now she probably thinks I'm a big jerk_.

"No, it's okay,"

"No, that was really insensitive of me and I apologize and…"

"Caleb! No, it's just that…I…" she looked lost for words.

_At least I'm not the only one_.

"Just what?"

"This is just so unexpected, that's all," she replied. He looked at her. He couldn't tell if she was mad, or happy about what had just happened. Was she happy he'd tried to kiss her, or mad? Was she happy she'd stopped, or mad she went for it? A thousand confusing thoughts came flooding into his brain without warning. He stomach fluttered with a thousand butterflies. He hated and loved the feeling all at once.

"So…" he tried to find the words, but looked at her, giving her a look so that she knew that he wanted her to feel in the blanks.

"So, there's no reason to shun a good thing coming my way, especially since I've had unrelenting bad things, until now," she replied, reaching for his arm again. "I'm not over him, I'll be honest with you. But you're the only reason that I would ever be able to move on. You're the best thing that's happened to me in such a long time, Caleb."

"Lindsey, I don't know what to say," he said, completely surprised by her words. He had expected her to storm away mad.

"Don't say anything at all," she said. He leaned in again, taking a chance at another catastrophe. This time, their lips met. He held her close.

_What are you doing? She's an emotional train wreck right now. She's a wilting flower falling to pieces in your arms. It's not right…how could you do this to Nathan_?

If falling in love was a bad thing, he welcomed it with open arms. They released their kiss but kept looking in each others' eyes, holding each other in the moonlight.

"We should get back to the mansion," he suggested.

"Yeah, we're already in enough trouble. If we keep the minors out after curfew we'll get in even more trouble," she chuckled.

"We should get in trouble more often," he suggested.

"I agree. Not too soon though, I'd hate to face Cyclops if we got caught," she grimaced. He couldn't concur more. The idea of facing Cyclops after breaking a rule like they all had tonight was enough to send a chill down his spine.

Caleb walked back to the group with his arm around Lindsey's waist. He didn't know if what had happened on their walk was real, or if he'd imagined the whole thing. Only time would tell what became of him and Lindsey. Maybe she was just reaching out to the shoulder she'd been crying on, grasping for the only familiar thing she had left in her new life. Maybe it was meant to be all along. Maybe it was divine appointment that he'd rescued her when he did. Maybe they would be happy together, survive the war, get married and have a family someday.

_One kiss and you're claiming kids…easy, trigger_, he scolded himself. _One day at a time…baby steps, remember_.

He didn't feel like tonight was a baby step at all. He felt as if they'd made a giant leap into the unknown. Maybe it was reckless, maybe it was right, who knew? It was a good night, if nothing more, he decided. He stopped thinking about it so that he wouldn't ruin the moment. It was too good and his head was screwing things up. He couldn't wait to talk to Beast about it.


	30. An Unexpected Arrival

Time seemed to go faster the longer that Typo was with the X-Men. He'd been able to put his hands to good use for them. In the past few months, he and Forge were able to create quite a nice security system for the mansion grounds. All of the computers had been updated with state of the art voice command prompts, finger print analysis and retina scan protocols. The same treatment had been given to all of the entrances and exits to the mansion. The place was no longer a school, but an impenetrable fortress. The X-Jets, including the Blackbird, helicopters, Land Rovers and other assault vehicles had been updated with plasma touch screens for command prompts. These were only the changes that Typo had made.

Forge had added mini guns, rocket launchers and laser beam turrets in strategic places around the mansion grounds, which would make any intruder really sorry they'd decided to trespass. All of the vehicles had been updated with the latest weapons and the X-Men's field equipment now included an arsenal that any army would covet. They had an interesting partnership, he and Forge. Forge was more of the inventor type, creating weapons, vehicles and hardware…a mechanical genius. Typo, on the flipside, wrote all of the software that governed the machines that he built. You couldn't have one without the other, and together they were unstoppable. It was a good setup, to say the least. Typo was using his powers in new ways, and he could feel himself evolving all the time. He was able to process information quicker, he could manipulate technology from further away and with much more proficiency.

He was most proud of what he was able to do with the Sentinels that he'd collected from the night that he'd been recruited. He had completely rewired them to obey his command, which was to destroy other Sentinels that didn't care the distinct signature Typo had designed them with. On deployment, they would also defend and assist any mutant in harm, as long as they weren't breaking the law. He was calling them Guardians. He thought the name was quite appropriate for he'd designed them for. Forge was helping him to build an entire platoon of them.

It was seven in the morning, an hour quite unknown to Typo, at least in the lifestyle he'd lived before. He was the quintessential night owl, his day starting at five in the evening and ending in the wee, ungodly hours of the morning. His employers had let him work a midnight shift, though they offered it to no other employees. It was because he was so good at what he did; they had given him other benefits and privileges as well.

He had just got done showering and he was ready to start his day.

_Well, I can't really call it _my _day_, he thought bitterly.

His day was pretty much laid out for him by the X-Men's strict training schedule. It was grueling and tiresome—although Typo had the least room to complain of anyone. Two days out of the week he worked exclusively with Forge, a break much envied by the other Jr. X-Men. Vortex was always giving him grief about it, as was his brother Palisade.

He smiled when he thought of his brother's X-name. No matter what kind of changes the world brought, or what orders he was given, Palisade would always be his kid brother, Jake. He had taking a liking to his own nickname, however. It was much more convenient to be Typo in both the digital world and the real world. There was no having to distinguish one identity from the other now.

_Is that really a good thing? _he asked himself. He'd become a different person since his stay at the mansion. It wasn't just his new line of work but the integrating of an entirely foreign social life. Where he'd had little or no contact with real people before, now he was with people all the time. He even had to share a room with the Jr. X-Men guys for a while. Sharing a room with Forge was an adjustment enough, he thought. He was mortified when Cyclops informed him he would share a room with four other guys.

Eventually, he and Forge had worked out a good arrangement between sharing the room. They had set times as to when each of them got to take their shower, and how long they got to take and whatnot. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, he realized. Over time, in fact, he'd grown to enjoy having a roommate, especially a guy as cool as Forge. He was a little older and more mature than the other guys in mansion. An opportunity to get to know Beast and Gambit had not presented itself and he was pretty sure that Cyclops wasn't the kind of guy to make friends with guys like him. The younger guys, with the exception of Shockwave, were walking bags of hot air, thinking only of violence and sex. They were, as far as Typo was concerned, bumbling idiots.

Shockwave had proved to be an interesting fellow, however. He was one of the only people who'd made an attempt to make Typo feel welcome since he'd arrived. He was also one of the few people who he could have intelligent conversations with. They were able to talk about God, religion, politics, social issues, and though they disagreed on many aspects, they were still able to be civil and mature about their discussions. It was a huge mark of maturity, Typo decided, if someone was capable of agreeing to disagree and Shockwave possessed this most admirable quality. He was one of the few people that he considered a friend at the mansion.

He liked his girlfriend, Nightmare pretty well too. The incident in the Danger Room had made things weird between them for a while, but it passed with time. She was really a nice girl. He was kind of jealous of her and Shockwave's relationship. It was clear that they loved each other, even though they had the furthest thing from a perfect relationship. He was close enough to them to know their basic story. He'd went back home and rescued her from the MCA, but they were unable to save her boyfriend at the time. She didn't hear from him for months, so she could only assume that he was dead. Typo had hacked the MCA's prison systems and searched for Nathan Henson but found nothing.

Months afterwards, she had moved on. She was so distant, so sad when he'd first met her. Slowly but surely she'd worked her way out of her depression and had blossomed into a normal, happy, young woman. Still, he was jealous of their relationship. He'd had online relationships that were long term, serious and heartfelt, but they were still long-distance. There was no real connection. Even when he heard their voices, it was through the speakers of his computer or a telephone receiver. He couldn't take them out, or hold their hand, walk them to the door and kiss them good night.

He shook his head and the thought was gone. It was a waste of time to covet and envy. It only embittered you and didn't give you what you wanted, right?

He wrapped a towel around him and made his way to the mirror. He was going through the morning rituals. He wiped the mirror clean from the shower steam. He almost didn't recognize the man before him. It was an entirely different frame than the skinny, pale, twenty-something that had come here months before. He had gained nearly twenty pounds since then, all of it muscle. He was in much better shape than he was when he arrived…better than he'd ever been in his life. He was stronger, looked healthier and he was happier with his new life…much happier than he had ever thought he would be.

A familiar ring sounded in his head. Someone was calling his personalized frequency. They had tried to issue him his own X-Men phone, and he laughed at them. It was a waste of a perfectly good piece of technology, he told them. Why in the world would they give him a cell phone when he was a technopath and could interpret the wavelengths of any frequency…including that of cell phone signals? It didn't make sense. Oh well.

"Hello?" he answered aloud, streaming the signal to the part of his brain that interpreted sound waves. He connected the signal so that it would go straight to his hearing.

"Good morning, Typo. This is Cyclops," he announced casually.

"Morning, Cyclops. What can I do for you?" he asked, knowing Cyclops would only call if he needed something.

"An issue has come up that requires your attention. Could you meet me in the War Room in ten minutes?"

"Yeah sure. I'll be there."

"Thank you, Typo. Goodbye."

"Bye," Typo waited for Cyclops to sever the signal. He skipped shaving, for the third day in a row and decided to let his hair air dry but continued with his morning ritual to get ready in the time allotted to him.

* * *

Lindsey walked into the kitchen and into the smell of homemade waffles. She nearly fell over with delight. Her and Caleb had made it their thing to take turns waking up early and making each other breakfast. It was his day and the smell carried through the entire floor. It was also Saturday, which meant that Beast and Storm would be joining them. She was still in her pajamas, and so was Caleb. They were always careful to allow themselves enough time to lounge around before the morning routine started.

She was glad that they no longer had to be on the ridiculous diet they'd been put on when she had arrived. The only stipulation was that they had to cook for themselves if they wanted to eat what they wanted. Caleb loved cooking so he was always volunteering for the job. She didn't mind it so much either if it meant that she could eat real food.

"Something smells good!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him. He turned his head and gave her a kiss.

"It's gonna be freakin amazing today, you have no idea," he replied commenting about the food.

"Oh yeah? Why is that?" she asked curiously. He was a bit vain sometimes about his cooking but it was always good.

"Because I raided the adults' cupboard and found some _real_ maple syrup! Not the imitation kind, the real deal. You know, like the stuff you get at breakfast diners," he answered, nabbing the bottle so that she could see. She wanted to look but she was too busy laughing.

"Breakfast diners? Who says that?"

"Whatever, you know what I mean."

"Well, it smells great. Is it almost done? I'm starving!"

"Almost. You want to set the table for me? Just three today."

"Why? Who's not coming?"

"Beast's out on a mission so it's just Storm today," he replied. She frowned. She had just talked to Beast only the night before. He must've left shortly after their conversation or _very_ early this morning.

"Really? I just talked to him last night, and he didn't say anything about a mission," she pondered aloud.

"He didn't say anything to me either. I passed Storm in the hallway earlier and she told me," he answered. Her curiosity was not yet satisfied.

"Did she say anything else?"

"No. I didn't ask. I figured it was probably something routine. You know that Jubilee, Gambit and Iceman are still out too. Maybe he went to join them," he offered. It was clear that he didn't know any more than he was letting on. He shrugged and went back to cooking while she set the table. Before long, Storm came to join them.

"Good morning, Lindsey, Caleb. It smells wonderful. What have you made?" she greeted them with a warm smile. Something was amiss. She was completely decked out in her X-garb, as if she were ready to fly into battle. Lindsey didn't like being put at the kid's table as far as the X-Men's affairs. It seemed that the Jr. X-Men were on a need-to-know basis as far as to what was going on.

"What's up? Why are you all dressed and ready to go?" Lindsey asked, before Caleb had time to answer her question.

"Waffles," he replied.

"It smells delicious. I'm afraid I'm going to have to eat and run. I have to make a meeting in the War Room in fifteen minutes. To answer your question, Lindsey, I don't know. Something is going on and I'm not sure what," she replied.

"You're fine. Here! You can have the first one," Caleb put a waffle on a plate and handed it to Storm. She sat down at the table and began to eat, washing it down with a glass of milk as she went. By the time that Lindsey and Caleb got the chance to sit down and dress their waffles, Storm was eating her last bites.

"Caleb, as always, it was absolutely exquisite. I'm afraid I have to go. Enjoy your breakfast together…" she trailed off, a hint of sadness in her tone. Lindsey figured it out all too quickly and could not help but to smile.

"You miss him already don't you?" she grinned.

"Yes. You never realize how much you need someone until you go a day without them," she added. Lindsey grimaced. She had not thought of Nathan in such a long while, but her thoughts fell on him suddenly. She felt guilty whenever she thought about him. It was as if she was violating the relationship that she and Caleb had. He never once asked her to get over Nathan, or to move on. He had only stayed by her side, and saw her through it. She let her eyes fall on him and she smiled. She reached for his hand and he took it.

"I have a pretty good idea," she answered Storm but kept her gaze on Caleb. He winked at her and gave her a quick, flashy smile.

She hated to compare her relationship with Caleb to hers with Nathan, but she couldn't help it. They were alike in a lot of ways, Nathan and Caleb. As could be expected, she had her favorite things about each of them. Nathan had been closer to her age, but Caleb was beyond his years. They didn't look even a little bit alike. Caleb was taller, and had broader shoulders, a bigger framed man. Caleb was tanned, with dark eyes and dark hair. He had a round face, with bold, distinct features, high cheekbones and prominent forehead. Caleb had carried a little weight with him before but he was always proportioned so it wasn't a big deal. She had to admit he was slimming down and getting a lot leaner as of late.

_That's what grueling exercise will do to you_, she thought.

Nathan was fair-skinned, had blond hair and blue eyes. He was always cut and muscular, because of his mutation mostly. If he at as much as he did without his mutation, he'd be as big as a house. His face was longer, and his features more angular.

Though they couldn't be more polar opposites as far as appearance went, she found them both to be quite attractive.

She had only recently let go of Nathan, more for Caleb's sake than for her own. It wasn't fair to him, she figured to make him wait around while she dug herself out of a wish that would never come true. He'd been nothing but patient and loving with her and he didn't deserve to have to handle his baggage and hers too.

It was true though, that Nathan had been the love her life; there was no question. She had loved him more than she'd ever loved another person. Their bond was deep, their affections real. But he was gone now. Death was the only thing that could have separated their love—and it had. The on thing her life she wanted more than anything else, she'd been denied. It was the only thing that she had thought would ever make her happy and it was taken away.

But she'd been given a second chance at happiness. Caleb had been the best thing that had happened to her since before she could remember. She wasn't sure, as she had been with Nathan, that they were meant to be together. She couldn't say for sure, at least at this stage of their relationship, if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. It wasn't security she needed anyway, but friendship and love. Caleb had plenty of that to give. He gave her what she needed, and for right now, they worked. Even if they didn't end up together, she couldn't imagine not having him as a part of her life—he was her best friend.

"Goodbye Lindsey, bye Caleb," Storm said. Rogue walked into the kitchen as Storm walked out.

"Hey kids! Mmmm! Ya'll makin waffles?" she asked, eyeing the extras that Caleb had made from the batch. Rogues' stomach was swelling daily as the baby inside of her grew. She was out of active duty at the moment, too fragile to go on a mission. Lindsey would have never imagined the sassy, southern firecracker to be too fragile for anything. It was more for the baby's safety than for her own, Lindsey figured.

"You want some, Rogue?" Caleb asked, knowing well the answer.

"You don't mind do ya?"

"Of course not. Help yourself," Caleb said with a smile.

* * *

Typo tucked his hair behind his ears, still wet from the shower. He walked into the War Room to meet Cyclops, Storm, Jean and Forge. The rest of the X-Men were nowhere to be found. He knew that Gambit, Jubilee and Iceman had gone on a mission, Rogue was taking a long break from X-Men activity. He couldn't account for Beast, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat.

"Where are the others?" he asked casually.

"Out on a mission. Have a seat and we'll get to the point," Cyclops said. Typo did as he was told. "Jean, go ahead and give him the briefing."

"One of our contacts, a former X-Man, is heading a supply line worked by exiled mutants from Russia…"

"Colossus?" he couldn't resist asking. One of his project was to help Jean organize the Xavier Protocols. He'd been going over the list of mutants who had once been X-Men. When Russia cam up, Colossus was at the top of the list.

"Yes. He's informed us that he's going to be running a supply line for the Remnant. Are you familiar with The Remnant?"

"They are a mutant faction stationed in Israel, comprised mostly by those with military background. They have an open door policy, welcoming mutants who will pledge to their cause, and warning others to stay out of their way. They've already organized several successful attacks on the government and they've liberated some concentration camps. Their leader is rumored to be very powerful…some even say he's a class five," Typo gave her everything he knew off the top of his brain.

"As always, Typo, you are very well informed," Jean smiled. "Colossus is running the line by plane from Russia to Lebanon, which is now under control by The Remnant. He's going to get the chance to meet with some of their leaders, perhaps even join their cause as a satellite faction. He may get invited to go to Israel and meet their head."

"What is it that you think I can help with?" he asked, unsure as to why they were telling him all of this.

"Because of the distances and other circumstances, we've been unable to correspond with the Remnant, let alone gain an ally overseas. We do, however, have a connection with Colossus and his faction," Cyclops interjected.

"We want to send some representatives to Russia to ride along the supply line. I'd like the chance to meet some of the leaders of this infamous faction.

"Also, we have drained the majority of our funds refurbishing our equipment, se we need the opportunity to sell some of our weapons to The Remnant," Jean continued.

"You and Forge and Storm will be accompanying Jean on this mission to Russia, Lebanon and Israel. You'll be gone for weeks. No one can explain or sell your software as well as you can. The same thing goes for Forge and our weapons and equipment," Cyclops stated.

"Will it be dangerous?"

"The MCA will have no jurisdiction there but the Russian and Israeli governments are just as hostile towards mutants as our own, so yes," Cyclops replied. Typo shrugged. His mutation didn't really make him a necessary part for many missions. He was content being on the sidelines, but he had bad cabin fever. He'd always wanted to visit Israel anyway.

"When do we leave?" he asked.

"In one hour," Jean replied. Typo had not packed nor was he suited up as the rest of them were. He'd get over being rushed. He had just been selected for one of the most important missions ever.

"I'd better get ready then," Typo stood up to go. "Is there anything else?"

"Don't tell the other Jr. X-Men about the mission. Be ready to go in forty-five minutes," Cyclops responded.

"How come you're not going Cyclops?" Typo pondered out loud.

"Someone has to stay behind and hold down the fort. I can't leave these children unattended," he smiled. Typo returned the sentiment.

"I see your point. Thank you, sir," Typo turned to leave and pack. He would be on his way to Russia very soon on an important mission that none of the Jr. X-Men were allowed to know about. He was enjoying all of this too much.

* * *

Rogue had been manning the phones in the War Room, since she could do little else. All of the X-Men, save herself and Cyclops had left. He was running them through Danger Room sessions. She was there, finishing the last of Shockwave's waffles. She had felt guilty at first, but ever bite madder her glad she'd taken them.

_Nothing beats good ol' homemade blueberry waffles_!

The phone rang suddenly—it was the emergency line. She saw that the ID said it was coming from the Cassidy keep. Moira and Sean had not touched based with the X-Men in a while.

"X-Men, this is Rogue," she greeted.

"Rogue! It's my parents! They've been taken into custody by the government! They're being held for execution!" It was Siryn, Sean and Moira's daughter.

"What for?"

"The government found out that they were smuggling supplies and helping fugitive mutants to flee the country."

"You called the right people, girl. Look it, I'm gonna get Cyclops in here so you can explain the situation to him. We'll send a team out soon, I promise!" Rogue assured.

"Hurry Rogue!"

"Don't worry, girl. Your parents will be fine!" they said quick goodbyes and Rogue called Cyclops's phone. It only rang once.

"Hello?" Cyclops asked.

"Cyke! You remember the Cassidy's, Sean and Moira and their daughter Siryn?"

"Yes."

"Sean and Moira have been taken into custody and they're being held for execution. She needs to talk to you!"

"I'll be right there," he hung up. As he did, the warning beacon for a city disturbance went off. She checked the computer for the news feed.

"…group of mutants terrorizing downtown national bank. The police have taken initial action but authorities say the MCA is on their way. This group of terrorists have identified themselves as none other than the notorious Brotherhood of Mutants, once led by Magneto…" the screen went blank, probably from Zeus's electrical interference.

"Well, shit! It looks like the whole world's goin out of their mind!" she exclaimed.

_This is just great_.

"Talk to me, Rogue!" Cyclops burst into the War Room in somewhat of a stupor.

_Oh boy_.

She hated it when he got like this. She relayed both situations to him as quickly as possible. He made a quick phone call to Siryn to get some details.

"We'll have to make two teams and go now," he threw his hands up. He didn't like the situation anymore than she did. He hit the mission the mission alert and pressed the intercom.

"X-Men, suit up and head to the War Room immediately. Do not delay," he had spoken before he realized what he had said, Rogue realized.

"They awlready gots their suits on, Cyke. Hope you got a plan. They're right down the hall. They gonna be here any minute, Sugar."

"Yes, thank you. Suiting up includes grabbing their gear—let's see if they remember," he said with a smirk.

A few minutes later the Jr. X-Men showed up in the War Room, geared up and ready to go. Rogue couldn't have been more proud. They had been trained well, that was all she had to say.

"Have a seat, this needs to be quick," they did as they were told. "I'm forming two teams for two missions. One is a rescue mission to save some very powerful allies of the X-Men from imprisonment and execution. The other is to stop the Brotherhood from rampaging in the city. A few of you are staying here to protect the mansion. No complaining, you were chosen for the mission that you would be most effective on.

"I will be leading team one to Muir Island and accompanying me will be Nightmare and Druida. Hypno will be leading team two to the first National Bank in downtown New York to take care of the Brotherhood. Accompanying him will be Shockwave and Vortex…"

"And the rest of us stay here!" Palisade grumbled. Rogue sympathized. She had to stay behind an all the missions too. Her circumstances were a little different than his but she could still relate.

"Lifestream will head up the team here at the mansion," Cyclops finished as if he'd never been interrupted.

"Me?" the poor girl looked like she was going to be sick. It would do her good to step out of her box. The humble girl was finally going to have her say.

"Lifestream is your name, Sugar! He's talking to you. Don't worry, you'll do fine. I'll be right here if you need anything."

"Team one, be ready to leave on X-Jet 3 in five. Team two, if you could kindly fly yourselves to the First National Bank and give our friends a warm welcoming as soon as possible," Cyclops ordered.

And then, they were gone, team one on the jet, team two via Vortex and team three was patrolling the grounds. A few minutes into the watch, the door bell rang. She looked at the security camera monitor. It was a twenty-something young man with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was dressed head-to-toe in combat gear and armed to the teeth with guns and grenades and whatnot.

"Can I help you, Sugar?" she asked through the intercom.

"Yes. I'm looking for Cyclops," he replied.

"Cyclops ain't here, darlin' but you can talk to me," she teased.

"I have an urgent message for Cyclops concerning Bolivar Trask. You don't know me but I am a friend of the X-Men's. If you don't believe me, ask Caleb O'Fallon, Markas Bast, or Lindsey Basden," he looked into the camera as he spoke. He knew some of the new recruits, that much was for sure. What concerned her more than anything was the name he mentioned before. Bolivar Trask equaled bad news for the X-Men. The image of a Sentinel crossed her mind and she shuddered. She grabbed her two-way phone.

"Lifestream, we have a visitor. Kindly ask him to relinquish his weapons and have him come in," she said into phone.

"Yes ma'am," she replied.

"Sugar, my people are gonna come and let you in. I'm afraid they're gonna have to take your weapons. You can have em back, if you prove trustworthy but you can't come strollin in here armed to the teeth," she scolded.

"That's fine."

"What's your name darlin?"

"You can call me Titan. My friends will know me as Nathan Henson."


	31. Family Reunion

Shockwave was surprised by the smooth landing that Vortex had provided them with. He had to keep his eyes closed for most of the trip because he was unaccustomed to the wind whipping in his face at such an unruly rate. Hypno could create telekinetic shields to protect him from such elements and Vortex was completely immune to the wind, as he governed it. They were on the rooftop across the street from the bank, which was surrounded by police cars and swat team vans.

"Oh, this is lovely," Shockwave commented.

"Yeah, this pretty much sucks. We have a job to do. We should go into one of those windows because there is _no_ way they police are gonna let us through," Hypno looked over the building.

"If Shockwave can knock one of them big windows out, I can fly us over there no problem," Vortex suggested.

"I would be most happy to blast a window for you," Shockwave said.

"Wait until we get close to it so I can make sure the pieces don't hit any bystanders," Hypno ordered. "Vortex, let's fly." Within seconds, they had lift off and they were flying towards the bank's window canopy that would lead them into the entrance.

"Now, Shockwave!" Hypno ordered. He obeyed sending a narrow _boom_ out to break only the window they were aiming for. The glass shattered into a million tiny pieces. Hypno used his power to gather the glass into a sphere of powder and tossed it to the side, so that it would hurt no one. They descended into the bank lobby, awaiting the entire Brotherhood. Shockwave seriously hoped that it was only a few of them. There was no way that they could take on all of them, even with their training and even with element of surprise.

His biggest fear was Mindflare, who only Hypno would be able to fight. Grendel posed a pretty interesting threat with his healing powers as well…and the claws made him scarier than he should have been. Either way, Shockwave was pumped full of adrenaline, ready for combat. He'd been itching for it since his mission to Sheol. Vortex stopped using his wind powers and Hypno steadied them so that they wouldn't smash into the floor a hundred feet down.

They landed back-to-back-to-back, covering all angles of the lobby. Shockwave caught sight of two security guards who appeared to have either died or been knocked unconscious with their guns drawn. Their hair was wild and frizzy as if they'd been hit with—

"Look out, guys! We've got company!" Zeus was the first to acknowledge their presence.

—a bolt of lightning.

_Round em up, boys! Just think what you want to say so they can't hear us!_ Markas warned. _Go get em! Initiate at will_!

Shockwave fired and _boom_ underneath him as he jumped forward towards Zeus. The force of the wave propelled him through the air. He put a boom behind his punch, sending the electrical hothead flying through the air and into a cubical. A wave of light overtook him suddenly and he was on his back. Soon the light enveloped him, burned him and pinned him to the ground.

"I owe you for two, Shockwave," he heard a voice, which was clearly coming from Luminos, from behind the light. He fired a _boom_ from underneath him, cracking the expensive marble floor. It was force enough to propel his body into the air and out from underneath the beam of light. He flipped his body while he was in midair and caught sight of the light-beamer. He sent a strong wave from his hands as he began his descent to the floor, sending his foe to the ground. He redirected the wave so that it was underneath him. Gradually he decreased the intensity, slowing his fall back down to the ground. He hovered over the ground for a few seconds and an enlightened thought came to him.

_I can use this to hover! How cool is that_?

Just as he was about to apprehend Luminos a bolt of electricity riddled his body with pain, shock and force. He flew forever, landing in the fountain well decoration in the front of the lobby entrance.

_Uh-oh, water and electricity! BAD!_

He didn't take the time to get out at regular speed but _boom_-jumped out of the fountain towards a chandelier. He gripped the crystal fixture and swung forward. He sent twin waves out to knock the electric-light duo away again. He landed hard on the floor so he rolled to cushion the fall. The duo was getting back to their feet already. Why in the world was he fighting these two all by himself? What the heck were Vortex and Hypno doing?

_I'm a little busy with Grendel, Vortex is having a little fun with Aquas_! Hypno answered his question belligerently. Still, he was the only one being double-teamed. He was glad that there were only four of them, as opposed to Mindflare's whole team.

_Oh that would be really oh dear!_

Zeus tried to hit him with a stream of electricity and Shockwave instinctively shot out one of his strong waves. He didn't think that it would do any good against electricity but to his surprise he was able to keep the stream from reaching him. When Zeus turned up the intensity so did Shockwave. It was a stalemate, their powers collided and created quite a fireworks show in the middle of their stance. Shockwave was glad to see his new _constant wave_ ability was becoming quite useful. Before he could relish the thought fully, a beam of intense light hit his body like an Amtrak, sending him crashing into a big marble pillar in the lobby.

Some lady started screaming when he landed close to her. All she could do was look at him and scream in terror.

_Sheesh lady shut up! I'm trying to save you for crying out loud_!

Something had to give. Taking on two of the Brotherhood at once wasn't exactly his idea of a good time, especially when those two were the twins of terror, Luminos and Zeus. As they approached him, they stepped under a chandelier. He felt guilty about his plan, since it looked like a several thousand-dollar decoration, but the opportunity to get the drop on his enemies in a way that only happened in the movies was too much to resist. He unleashed a focused boom where the chain holding the chandelier met ceiling. The drywall crumbled at the chandelier began to fall to the floor.

Luminos teleported out of the way easily but Zeus got cute and decided he would use his electricity to deflect the chandelier. In the few precious seconds Shockwave had bought himself, he _boom_ jumped towards Luminos. He gave a him a wave that sent him out of the line of sunlight, making his power useless.

"You've already lost two out of three, Loomy. You can't call a rematch now," Shockwave taunted. He gritted his teeth and used his last bit of stored up light energy to do a desperate blast at Shockwave, which he easily dodged.

_Bad mistake_.

"When you are you Brotherhood goons gonna learn?" he asked. He _boom_ jumped forward and dealt him an uppercut to the chin followed by a punch to the chest accompanied by a _boom_. It wasn't enough to kill him, but it wasn't likely he'd be getting up and around any time soon. His body rolled and slid across the hall, coming to a stop after hitting the wall.

"Home run!" Shockwave put his hand in the shape of a gun and blew on the barrel of it, as if clearing the smoke. Zeus promptly shot him with an ugly bolt of electricity. Pain riddled through his body as Zeus held him down, giving him a constant stream of electricity.

"You shouldn't mess with family!" he screamed. Shockwave's body shook and convulsed, his involuntary _booms_ were going off trying to protect him. It gave him momentary relief and wrecked the bank lobby up a lot, but Zeus still held him down. He could conjure a _boom_ powerful enough to release himself from Zeus's attack. If someone didn't help him soon, he'd be in trouble.

"You should take your own advice!" he heard his cousin's voice and saw one of the heavy lounge chairs fly through the air and into Zeus. The electric pain stopped and Zeus went flying in the same direction as his brother. He was trapped underneath the lounge chair.

_Well that's at least two that I can account for_, Shockwave thought.

"Yeah, I think that Vortex is having a little trouble handling the girl," Hypno teased.

"What's you talking bout, it ain't no thing," Vortex flew in beside them, apparently done with his battle with Aquas. He was also soaking wet. The suit didn't absorb water but there were long beads of water still collected on his suit. Shockwave had battled Aquas before and knew how annoying she could be.

"Looks like the X-Men are victorious again!" Shockwave gloated.

"Yeah, let's tie these guys up and hand em over to the police," Hypno ordered.

"They're going to give them over to the MCA, Mark—Hypno. I wouldn't wish that to anyone, even the Brotherhood," Shockwave objected. He appeared to think about it for a while, as if he were trying to think of a better solution.

"Shoot, I'd give over to the MCA! Serves em right!" Vortex threw his two cents in.

"No, gather them together I got something better in mind for them. It'll teach em a lesson," he smiled mischievously. Shockwave could hardly wait to see what he had in mind for them. He didn't like the Brotherhood anymore than the next guy, but he would still feel guilty handing them over to certain death from the MCA.

He picked up Luminos and dragged him over to Hypno. They rounded up the rest of them. He used the ropes from the brass barrier stands to tie them together with his telekinesis, a task that would've normally taken several minutes was reduced to seconds. Soon all four of them were bound, backs against each other. They were ready to fly away when something clicked in Shockwave's brain.

"Wait a minute, where's the money?"

"What?" Hypno wasn't following.

"They're robbing a bank, so where's the money they were after?" he rephrased.

"We weren't after money you idiots!" a voice sounded from behind. It was the remaining three members of the Brotherhood, Mindflare included.

_Oh boy, this is gonna be bad_.

* * *

Rogue looked the young man over, and was satisfied to find him unarmed. The only thing that he had with him was a yellow-brown envelope that looked like it was stuffed full.

_Nathan Henson…where have I heard that name before? Doesn't matter—time to get down to business_.

"Well, Mr. Titan…"

"Just Titan," he corrected.

"Well Titan, I told you the truth when I said that Cyclops isn't here right now. All of the other X-Men are out on missions right now. I'm in charge of affairs until he gets back, so anything you were gonna show to him, you can show to me," she said. She wasn't exactly ready to make any kind of executive decision concerning Bolivar Trask and Sentinels.

"Very well. Here you go. I'm not going to say who I acquired this information from, but let me assure you that it's a reliable source," he handed her the packet and she removed the contents, setting them on the War Room conference table. Just the first few contents made her gasp. She looked them over, surveillance photos, progress reports, pirated computer files. All of them said the same thing. She came across check stubs of amounts of money most people only dreamed about. The memos were all for buying supplies to make one thing.

"An army of Sentinels. I've heard this before. So he plans on deploying them in a month?" she looked it over grimly. She tried to keep her cool, not letting the new visitor know she was worried about anything at all.

"He's receiving funding from the MCA, who is sanctioned by the U.S. government, so we can be assured that he has the resources to do this," Titan added. "When these things hit the streets, they'll hunt down and kill every mutant in the United States, including children. This isn't something that we can just laugh away, we're talking nationwide mutant genocide."

"Believe me, Sugar, I know how serious this is. Does any of this say where these Sentinels are being produced?"

"An island called Genosha," he replied.

"We destroyed Genosha when we stopped Trask the first time," she objected.

"It's underground, beneath the ruined surface. It's impenetrable to bombing or attack from the surface. They enter the island through a system of underwater caves in submarines," he explained.

"Well, that should make things real interesting. I'm still curious as to where you got this information from. What kind of work do you do, Titan?" she asked suspiciously.

"I don't want to tell you the information, and as far as my line of work…you can call me a gun for hire," he said with pride. She eyed him down. Sure, he'd come to the mansion with lots of toys, but he didn't look to be older than twenty-three. He couldn't have had too much experience.

"How do you know, Shockwave, Hypno and Nightmare?"

"Caleb is a friend of mine, Markas is his cousin and I used to date Nightmare," he replied. She nodded.

_I wonder if he knows about Nightmare and Shockwave? I'll leave that up to them to tell him or him to find out on his own…that's something I don't want to get involved in_.

"I see. Listen, Titan I'm gonna be real straight with you. We're in your debt that you brought this information to us, and we _do_ have the resources and people to do something about it but everyone save a fistful of us are on missions currently. When Cyclops gets back, he'll decide what to do as far this all is concerned; I'm not in any position to make decisions or send out teams.

"In the meantime, I can give you a guest bedroom and you're welcome to stay here. I imagine that with friends you'll want to at least catch up. Should the need arise an you need to leave, your weapons are in the supply room down the hall."

"That's sounds great. If it's okay, I'd like to go ahead and go to my room. I've had a long trip and wouldn't mind getting some sleep," he admitted.

"That's fine, Sugar. Lifestream, hook him up with one of the empty rooms on the faculty wing," she ordered.

"Sure thing. This way, please," she motioned shyly. Titan began to follow her out.

"One more thing, when Lindsey—Nightmare comes back, could you let me know? Don't tell her that I've been here or anything like that…I want it to be a surprise," he said with a smile.

_Oh it's gonna be a surprise alright. You ain't got no idea, buddy_.

"I sure will, Darlin'. Now you get yourself some shuteye, okay?" she replied with a warm smile. The smile quickly faded as she buried herself in the documents he'd given her. They had a lot of homework to do and a big mission to plan, and she was the least qualified to be doing such things. Beast would be back soon and he could help her with all of that. When Cyclops got back, everything would be okay. He'd think of a plan, call the shots and the X-Men would do what they did best.

* * *

"You fools, do you really think that we would stoop so low as to rob a bank, like common thieves?" Mindflare asked, sounding deeply offended. The X-Men stayed completely still, poised and ready for battle. They would have to be on their top guard if they were going to take down Mindflare. They would have to take him all at once, Hypno thought. He'd leave Exus and Midas to Shockwave and Vortex, hold off Mindflare until they could join him, and take him together.

_Guys, if it comes down to a fight, Shockwave take Midas, Vortex take Exus and deal with them FAST. I'll hold off Mindflare as long as I can, then you guys come in and help me take him. It'll take all three of us._

_You got it,_ Caleb replied.

_Gotcha_, Isaac added.

"What conclusion are we supposed to come to? You're holding people hostage, you've killed the guards and you just came out of the vault…hmm?" Shockwave asked, trying to catch a glimpse as to what it was that they were leaving with.

"As you can see, we're not taking money," Mindflare answered. He looked over at his subjects who they had tied up disapprovingly. With his power, he moved them to his feet and used telepathy to wake them up.

"What happened?" they asked.

"Though you out numbered them four to three, they knocked you around like the useless buffoons you are! Get up and get the helicopter ready," he ordered. The four of them left together to follow orders.

_Vortex, we have a helicopter_, Hypno stated.

_Don't worry. That thing'll never leave this place. You want me to go now_?

_Wait a second, I'll give you the signal when_, Hypno decided.

"Midas, carry our package to the helicopter," Mindflare ordered and Midas obeyed. That left only Mindflare and his favorite little assassin left for them to deal with. Things were starting to look forward in their favor.

"What did you steal, Mindflare?" Hypno demanded.

"That's none of your concern, whelp! I'm not concerned in talking to you. But _you_, on the other hand," he turned his gaze to Shockwave, "you might actually be of some use to us." He must've given a mental command to Exus, she stepped forward as if she were going to retrieve him.

"I ain't gonna go quietly," Shockwave warned.

"I would expect as much," he smiled. Exus shot out one of her finger stingers, aiming it for Shockwave. Hypno didn't think that he'd have time to react so he created a telekinetic shield to stop it and it fell to the floor.

_Be on your guard, Caleb_!

A blast of telekinetic energy swept over him like hot tar. Hypno found himself falling backwards but with a little stumble he regained his footing.

"It's not nice to interfere," Mindflare taunted and then the psychic onslaught began. Hypno welcomed it this time. He was not the helpless cadet that Mindflare had fought so many months ago. Now, he was a formidable foe, even for one as powerful as Mindflare. Hypno put up barriers around his mind, keeping Mindflare from using distortion attacks.

"Impressive, you're much stronger than the last time we met. It's too bad that Phoenix found you before I did. You would have made a promising pupil," he beamed. The scariest thing was that he was serious. He was actually under the assumption that Hypno would've trained under a madman like him.

"I'd have killed you when you were sleeping!" Hypno shot back. From the corner of his eye and consciousness, he could see that Exus and Shockwave were having a heated hand-to-hand bout. One stinger would be all that it would take and he would fall to the ground paralyzed an useless. He should be keeping his distance.

_Vortex! Help Shockwave and then take care of the helicopter_! He thought. He felt his barriers began to be torn down. With a new burst of concentration, Hypno rebuilt the barriers and lashed out violently with telekinetic energy. Mindflare responded with the same. They both began pushing—pushing to the limits of their powers. Without realizing it at first, chairs and other stray objects began to rise up off of the ground around Hypno. His power was working on overdrive; he felt a trickle of sweat fall down his brow. Mindflare looked as if he'd never been so calm in his life. Hypno knew better. There was no way that he could create that kind of counterattack and not be feeling the burn.

Suddenly, Vortex fell to the floor and crumpled like a sack of potatoes—he' been hit with one of Exus's stingers. She was far too deadly for words. Hypno could only hope that Shockwave would be able to handle her on his own. His momentary lapse in concentration cost him dearly. The chandelier that his cousin had knocked from the ceiling came flying at him. He barely had enough time to divert his path to keep it from hitting him.

That one instant was all that Mindflare needed to get a grasp on him. His psychic barriers were tearing down and more than that he was encased in telekinetic energy. He felt his body being thrown on the floor again and again. Mindflare was bouncing him around. In a last attempt, Hypno conjured a psychic blast and fired it at Mindflare. It caught him off guard, but didn't do enough damage to be effective.

"Nice try, whelp, but you lose again," Mindflare tightened his grip on Hypno and he could feel his body constrict. His bones would crush under the mighty force in a matter of seconds. Hypno fought with everything that he had left in him. Suddenly, he heard his cousin's voice and the pain stopped.

"Leave him alone! You got something to say to me?" Shockwave had knocked Mindflare for a loop, catching him by surprise. He stood, fists clenched, ready to do it again if he needed to. Mindflare was enraged at being sucker punched. He sent out a telekinetic wave that Hypno was sure would clobber Shockwave but he returned with a wave of his own and held the energy at bay.

"Is that all you got? What a joke!" Shockwave taunted. It was good that he was getting Mindflare angry. He took the chance of losing his focus and thus, losing his edge in battle. Hypno was completely drained of energy, unable to do little more than stand to his feet. He could only root Shockwave on from the sidelines.

While Shockwave's _booms _and _waves_ were stronger than any telekinetic energy that Mindflare could conjure, he had no defense against the attacks of the psyche. Mindflare clearly unleashed something brutal on him as he grabbed his head and fell prostrate on the floor, screaming in agony. Hypno tried to use his telepathic power to boot Mindflare from Shockwave's mind but was able to do nothing. Mindflare hit him with another telekinetic wave and dropped him on his back. They were beaten and there was nothing that he could do.

* * *

Shockwave had felt this feeling before. When his cousin had hit him with psychic energy at the mansion before he'd joined the X-Men it was intense. That was a walk in the park compared to what was going on now. The floor turned into hot molten rock, searing his flesh at the touch of it. Dozens of bats flew around him, swooped down and bit at his flesh with beady, red, rabid eyes. He could hear Mindflare's demonic laugh echo in his brain like thunder.

His fingers began to blister and char, his suit began to melt like rubber, clinging hot to the point of boiling on his skin. When he tried to move away, an iron cage lined with razor blades fell around him. His body began to skin into the molten rock and the cage descended on him, preventing him from jumping away.

He screamed out in agony from the pain. He screamed doubly more from the emotional trauma he was undergoing. Every bad, painful memory, every loss, every deceased loved on, suddenly came flowing back into his mind all at once. He tried to block them out but they burned into him all the more. He was in Hell, there was no other explanation. Somehow, Mindflare had trapped him in Hell and there was nothing that he could do. He screamed for help, to Hypno, to Vortex.

_God, save me! SAVE ME!_

There was a sudden blast and bright light. Was it God himself, rending the heavens on his behalf? Was he sending leagues of angels to rescue him and punish Mindflare? He could only be so lucky. The images of Hell were gone and the physical pain induced by them subsided as quickly as they had come. He still felt the sting of emotional trauma but he knew that he had to get himself together.

Mindflare was picking himself up off the floor, in somewhat of a daze. He seemed to have lost all grasp of equilibrium. Descending from the glass ceiling of the front of the lobby, came a man dressed entirely in black. His full-length trench coat trailed and flapped behind him, making him appear to be an angel of death. He moved fast, like black quicksilver, jumping soundlessly from place to place, until he was before Mindflare.

Shockwave took a look at the man and did a double take. He couldn't believe his eyes; it was another one of Mindflare's illusions to torture him.

"Hy-Hybrid?" Mindflare looked up at the man in black in a dazed stupor.

"You owe me some money, Mindflare! And if you don't mind, I don't appreciate you picking on my brother!" the man in black exclaimed. He looked directly into Shockwaves eyes. "You okay, Caleb?"

Shockwave stumbled back. Thoughts of hurt, confusion and disbelief came over him like waves of the tide crashing into the shore. What he was witnessing was impossible. Mindflare had identified him as the Hybrid, the man that had broken into the mansion and set him free, the deadliest assassin the world, but that was not what Shockwave saw. Standing before him, was long-lost, and assumed dead little brother Garrett.

"What's the matter, bro? You look like you've seen a ghost."


	32. Into The Black

**_Muir Island…Cassidy Keep…_**

Cyclops stepped off of the jet first, Nightmare and Druida following close behind him. Siryn was waiting on the stairs of her father's castle, holding her knees. Her face was red, her eyes puffy from crying.

_Poor Girl_.

She had trained with the X-Men from time to time, when both of her parents were going to be gone for a long time. She never was really into the whole thing, though she had shown some promise. She stood to greet them as they approached the keep.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Cyclops. It's likely that you've saved my parents' lives," she confessed.

"Your parents have aided the X-Men many times in the past; not only are we obligated, but they are friends of ours. What's the situation?"

"Walk with me," she started to walk into the castle, "As I told Rogue, my parents were part of an underground railroad of sorts, helping mutants escape from the U.K. into islands of the east coast of the United States."

"Where did the mutants go from there?" Cyclops was curious.

"My parents didn't know anything beyond the job that they were supposed to. They did that on purpose in case they were ever captured, so they would not endanger those they were trying to save," she replied. She gave two quick glances, one to Nightmare and one to Druida.

"I'm sorry, Siryn, I'm being rude. These are my comrades, new recruits, Nightmare," he pointed to her. She shook her hand.

"Pleased to meet you," Siryn forced a smile.

"Likewise," Nightmare greeted.

"And this is Druida. They will be aiding us on the mission to save your parents."

"Thank you so much. I'm completely indebted to you, X-Men."

"Siryn, this is just a side thought, but a concern nonetheless, there isn't a chance that your brother will be dropping by is there?"

"My brother? I'd hardly call him that. As far as I know, Proteus knows and cares nothing of my parents' capture," she said bitterly. There must've been serious ought between them that Cyclops was unaware of.

_That's neither here or there_.

"Do you know exactly where they are being held?"

"Yes. They are being held in a maximum-security facility in Ireland. I know that they are being held in separate cells, my father on the mutant wing, my mother on the non-mutant wing. Those are the east and west wings of the prison. It's heavily guarded and hard to access. There are two towers with snipers, on the southeast and northwest corners. The facility is surrounded by a serious of razor wire fences, each segment patrolled by several guards.

"The best point of access is on the roof, through the ventilation system. My resources tell me that there are no security protocols that would make ventilation travel dangerous."

"Do we have any more detailed an idea as to where your parents are being held once we're inside of the facility?" Druida asked. Siryn grimaced and looked at Cyclops. She'd already briefed him on some of this.

"No. For the most part, you'll be going in blind. Unfortunately, we have to act now because they are going to execute Sean and Moira tomorrow morning if we don't do something. Once you locate either or both of the Cassidy's, we're giving you C4 explosives to take care of the bars and the walls. Once you blow the walls, that should give you a clear shot to escape," Cyclops replied.

"What about the guards and the razor wire fences?" Nightmare asked.

"The plan is this, we're going to fly the jet over the prison, Nightmare and Druida will jump out over the prison. Considering it will be at night, neither one of you should need parachutes," Siryn looked at the two young women with admiration as Cyclops explained. "First you must silently take care of the snipers in the towers because they are the only ones who can see your access point at the roof.

"Once they are taken care of, you have to shut down the fan and open the duct. From there, you can infiltrate the prison and begin your search for the Cassidy's."

"Give us a signal when you gain access, by then we should've landed the jet and have been on our way to the prison. Cyclops is going to destroy the generators, killing the power to the facility for at least two minutes before the backup power kicks in. That should give you lassies all the cover you need to find my parents," Siryn continued.

"Signal again if the power returns and you have not found Sean and Moira. Siryn and I will create some commotion to call all of the prison guards outside, buying you a little more privacy to work.

"Upon finding the Cassidy's, destroy the wall along the outside of the prison, and get them to safety," Cyclops finished. Druida and Nightmare looked at each other and then back to Cyclops. They knew, beyond shadow and doubt that it was a dangerous mission and that they had the most dangerous part of it. He knew that they could handle it. For one, they had both been very well trained and were quite capable. Two, their powers made them perfect for the task at hand. Three, he had been to Sheol and back, months before, with a team not yet as seasoned as them.

"This is nothing compared to the Sheol mission, so it should be in and out," Cyclops assured.

"We're ready," Druida said.

"Let's do it," Nightmare added.

"As soon as the sun goes down, we're gonna head out," Cyclops decided.

* * *

"Garrett! You're alive!" Shockwave exclaimed in utter disbelief. 

"It's Hybrid now. I'd love to chat, but right now I have business to deal with. Now! Mindflare, my money?" he narrowed his eyes at Mindflare who was just now struggling to his feet.

"Midas gave you your money! He gave you two golden…"

"That's synthetic gold. When I tried to cash it in they recognized that it was a fake almost by looking at it!"

"I'll get you the money, I promise! Just give me a little time!" Mindflare pleaded.

"You've had enough time already! Besides, I'm not really here about money. It's come to my attention that you've been making deals with the MCA. What are you selling to them Mindflare? What did you promise them?" Garrett demanded. Mindflare seemed as if he couldn't find the courage to answer him. Shockwave was so far gone in disbelief that his brother was even alive, that nothing else seemed to click in his mind.

Mindflare turned his gaze to Shockwave and then back to Garrett. Garrett looked over at Shockwave as if he'd been hit with a ton of bricks. His face curled into a snarl and he glared back at Mindflare.

"You bastard! I oughta…" Garrett unleashed a long, straight, double-edge sword.

"You're too late! They're already here," Mindflare confessed, looking past Garrett and to the entrance of the bank. Shockwave followed his eyes to see a small army of MCA agents coming in, all armed with anti-mutant weaponry. More of them came in through the back. Their leader, a tall man with dark hair, graying at the sides and a black, neatly kept, mustache greeted them with an evil smile.

"That's fine, Mindflare. You did good and you're free to go," he said. Mindflare began to scurry out of the lobby, no doubt heading to the helicopter on the roof. Shockwave was confused in so many ways. He couldn't even begin to compute what was going on.

"Caleb run!" Garrett warned. One of the agents shot a plasma net at him when he spoke. With a swipe of his sword the net was flayed in half. From both sides, more nets were fired, each foiled by his wicked blade. A net fired at Shockwave. He was suddenly reminded of the Danger Room session he'd had when all he'd done was fight countless MCA agents firing consecutive plasma nets at him. It'd taken him three tries to even pass the simulation, another three to master it. He wasn't being taken captive—not today, or any day for that matter.

He _boom_-jumped into the air, sailing over his brother, The Hybrid, Hypno and Vortex. When landed in front of the group of MCA agents who'd entered from the back he unleashed a _boom_, wide and powerful, in their direction. He reserved nothing in his attack. Their bodies flew in a thousand different directions, bouncing off of the floor, the counters and the walls. They reminded him of bowling pins whenever the ball hits them at the end of the lane. Every piece of glass in the direction he'd shot shattered without warning.

His power gave him an incredible advantage in fighting large groups, especially if they closed in on him.

"Caleb!" Garrett warned him. He spun to see more plasma nets firing at him. He used small, focused _booms_, just powerful enough to deflect the nets from alternating hands. They all fell harmlessly to the floor. He was ready to jump into the fray again, taking care of the next group.

"Get Markas and your friend and get outta here! They're after you!" Garrett warned.

"Why?"

"No time to explain! Go!" Garrett leapt into the air, higher than humanly possible and came down in a dive. They fired nets at him but as they came close to him, they went around him and sailed past him, as if he were temporarily rerouting their path.

He was a flurry of black and silver, sending up waves of crimson and cherry as he moved his sword through their bodies as easily as if he were moving it through air. From the lobby and the back, more agents began to file in, too many to count.

_Time to leave!_

"C'mon let's get outta here! Can you fly?" Shockwave demanded, running for Hypno.

"Yeah, get Vortex!" He was busy launching random chairs and desks at MCA agents and deflecting their nets. It was clear that they wanted to bring them in alive, which was much more disturbing than them just trying to kill him. He _boom_-jumped to Vortex's side, and began to scoop him up off of the floor. He was hard to get up off of the ground, since he was completely limp from Exus's venom. Once he had him on his shoulders he looked to Hypno.

Shockwave was vulnerable in the position that he was in, with Vortex on his back. He felt his feet lift up off of the ground. At first, it alarmed him, but he realized that it was Hypno giving them lift off.

"Should we go after the Brotherhood?" Shockwave asked.

"No, we're going back home. He's in no state to be fighting," Hypno objected, as they flew through the window of the bank and up into the sky. Nets bounced off an invisible barrier created by Hypno's telekinetic shield.

"What about Garrett?"

"I think he's made it pretty clear that he can take care of himself!" Hypno replied.

_That ain't no joke_!

"Can you believe it? He's alive!"

"Yeah, and he's The Hybrid!" Hypno stated the more startling news. Part of Shockwave was glad to have escaped the clutches of the MCA and the Brotherhood, but a part of him wanted to go back and reunite with his brother.

_He'll come to see me again,_ he thought, knowing it was the most unlikely of things to happen.

A new thought began to haunt him. Mindflare had hinted at it, and Hybrid had confirmed that the MCA were after _him_ back there at the bank. Was it possible that the Brotherhood had led another diversion, appearing to do one thing on the surface, but having a hidden agenda? Of course it was. How could Mindflare have been sure that Shockwave would come? Cyclops could've easily brought him along for his mission or left him at home at the mansion.

He shook his head of the thoughts, knowing that the answers would reveal themselves in time, even though he wasn't sure he wanted them to.

* * *

Nightmare fell forever in the dark night. She had had an easier time jumping from the plane than she thought she would have. She turned into her shadow form, allowing the darkness of night to gently caress her on her descent. She closed her eyes and fell, like an angel from Heaven, down to the earth below. She felt the cool mist of low clouds wisp through her form. 

Falling beside her was Druida in her bird form, diving and gaining untold momentum by the second. Her feathers were sleek and black, like Nightmare's thoughts. A grim smile crossed her shadowy face as she fell.

She opened her eyes to the bright and clear darkness below her. She could see the tower that he was to take care of. She stopped moving at the rate of gravity and moved at almost instantaneous speed. Soon she was standing behind the first sniper prison guard. She created a spectre the wisped around to the second one. In a simultaneous, fluid motion she wrapped her ghostly fingers around their mouths and flooded them with her shadow energy, as she began to steal their darkest, hidden thoughts and dreams.

Her prey soundlessly screamed for relief as they slipped into Nightmare. She felt them go limp in her hands and she let them fall to the tower floor. They lie there, neither alive nor dead, swimming in a coma of their own evil, now a part of Nightmare.

She shadowported to the roof and waited for Druida as she soaked in the new thoughts she'd taken in. Druida was only seconds behind her.

"Ready?" she whispered.

"As I'll ever be," Nightmare replied. Her voice was different—darker was the only way to describe it. She waited patiently as Druida shut off the fan and removed the door.

"After you," she offered. Nightmare transformed her body into a kind of shapeless wisp and flew into the ventilation shaft. From behind her, she could hear Druida giving Cyclops the signal to move in. She moved faster than fast. She could see everything all around her at the same time. Sometimes, the new vision was a lot to get used to but it was empowering to know that no one would be able to sneak up on her. Druida was right behind her in a slender cat morph. Before long they came to path in the ventilation that teed off, giving them two directions to go.

"I'll go right," Nightmare offered. She turned right and wisped down the shaft. She looked out of the ventilation covers, trying to catch a glimpse of a prisoner. Soon she caught sight of the cells and came to as stop. She peered slyly through the slits in the vent cover, watching a guard armed with a machine gun pace the floor, making his rounds. She was strangely excited, in fact, a smile crossed her shadowy face when she thought of what it would be like to shower him with her shadow energy—to feed upon his nightmares.

With a low hum, the lights gave way as Cyclops had taken care of the generators. She shifted her shadowy form to slide through the slits in the vent cover. She descended on the prison guard like a black widow upon her prey. She coiled her arms around his body, covering his eyes and mouth with one hand. He was too stunned to struggle. She felt a tingle of energy surge through her veins and she dropped him to the ground, barely alive.

With her vision, the darkness posed no hindrance to her vision. She had studied the photographs of Moira and Sean Cassidy well enough to know what they'd look like at a glance. It was clear that she was in the human wing, considering the only restraints on the people were iron bars—not the precautions one would take if holding mutants. She moved through the halls scanning the inhabitants of each cell until she came across a beautiful, middle-aged woman. Nightmare recognized her from the photographs. Unmistakably, it was Moira Cassidy.

She turned back into her regular form, so that her speech would not be altered. She did, however keep her eyes in shadow mode so that she could see. She'd heard a recording of her voice whenever she was in her shadowy form before. If death had a voice, it would no doubt sound like the noise that escaped her lips when she spoke. She didn't want to scare the life out of the woman. She kicked herself inwardly for wondering what her nightmares would taste like. She was here to rescue the woman, no other reason.

"Moira Cassidy?"

"Yes? Who's there?" the woman asked, her accent thick in her fright.

"My name is Nightmare and I'm here to rescue you; I'm one of the X-Men," she added, hoping the name would put her to some kind of ease.

"Thank Heavens! They're gonna execute me tomorrow," she wailed.

"Stand away from the bars," Nightmare instructed, assembling the C4 charge. It wasn't a lot—enough to break the bolt on the bars.

"I'm going to assume that your power allows you to see in the dark," Moira smiled, obeying Nightmare's command.

"How'd you guess?"

"Well, for starters, lass, I can't see a damned thing," she snickered.

_Duh_, she laughed at herself. She could see so clearly, she forgot that the lights were even off.

"I forget sometimes…I'm going to blow the lock off of this door. It's going to be loud. You might want to cover your ears," she advised, stepping away, holding the detonator in had.

"Thanks for the tip," she replied. Nightmare applauded her for being unusually calm in such a dire situation. She shot a look around, making sure that no guards were around. Unless they had night vision, it wouldn't be likely that they were even daring to move. They could have flashlights however, and direct beams of light were to her complete distaste at that particular moment.

She blew the lock and it was loud. She winced a little but shook it off. Moira stepped out of her cell, no doubt relieved to be freed.

"Thank you kindly, lass. I don't know what…" Moira began. Nightmare interrupted her with a scream. The lights had come back on all at once and without warning. Her eyes were still in shadow mode and it was like looking into the sun all at once. She blinked and saw circles of blue and purple, like after having your picture taken.

"Cyclops, the lights came back on. Work your magic!" she pleaded into her communicator. She removed the receiver and put the ear devices in and handed a pair to Moira.

"Siryn came along?" she demanded angrily. Nightmare was surprised that she was able to hear with the plugs in. They were supposed to suppress the sonic waves created by Siryn and Sean's voices, which were loud enough to break glass and shatter eardrums. Maybe they weren't working right.

"Yeah, she's here. How do you turn these on?"

"They're on. It's specifically designed to block out the frequencies of Siryn and Sean's voices without prohibiting the good sound waves," she replied.

"Awesome. Well, we're in a little bit of a hurry so…"

"By all means, let's go!" she insisted.

"We're going through your cell."

"Beg pardon, lassie?"

"I have another C4 charge and we're going _through _your cell—through the wall anyway," she explained.

"Well, let's get to it before the guards come around the corner investigating that little explosion you just put on," as she spoke, the sound of a horrendous scream rang through the night. It had to be Siryn causing ruckus for the prison guards. Nightmare didn't want to know what it would sound like if she were to take the earpieces out. She set up the charge and they stepped around the corner to blow it. The explosion was barely audible through the sound of Siryn screaming her head off—if that were possible. They ran to the new scenic window that Moira's cell had been decorated with. They looked to see that they were several floors up, looking down on the mayhem that Cyclops and Siryn were causing the below. Stray shots from machine guns rang out through the night.

"How are we getting through this?" Moira asked, looking doubtful.

"I'm going to shadowport us there," Nightmare replied with a smile.

"Shadowport?"

"No time to explain—take my hand. This is going to feel really uncomfortable, but whatever you do, don't let go of me," she warned, looking the woman in the eyes. From what she could see of her, she was able to keep her cool. She took her hand and nodded in confirmation. She transformed both of them into her shadowy form and began to port the location that Cyclops had showed her before. As she moved through the night she was exhilarated, and captivated by the sheer speed. Trees whipped past her in a blur, though she created no wind as she flew past. Part of it was because of Moira's dark thoughts, though they were few began to swim into her system, empowering her, stimulating her. It was as if every dark desire, every carnal whim could be acted on without reserve, remorse or consequence. It was a freedom she'd never known before.

They arrived at the jet and Nightmare found it hard to let go of Moira's hand. It scared her how much she was enjoying the effects of her power. She hadn't held on long enough to do much more than make her uncomfortable.

"That was a little more strange than I'd thought it'd be," the woman said bewildered.

"Get in the jet, we'll be right behind you," Nightmare instructed. She shadowported away, not giving the woman time to respond. She was going back for more. She knew that Cyclops didn't need her help but she could resist the idea of feeding on just a little bit more…

_What's happening to me_? A tiny voice inside of her head, slowly fading in the distance was worried at her new state of mind. Her body, mind and soul screamed for more and more. She had a sudden and insatiable lust, a black hole that needed to be filled. Who better to prey on than mutant-haters anyway, right?

She arrived at the scene, floating high above the fight. She searched out prey after prey, feeding on their minds, sucking them dry. She didn't hold on to them long enough to kill them, but long enough to rob them of their deepest secrets.

And oh, what confessions she received. She discovered thieves, liars, cheaters and even murderers and rapists. She even found a pedophile among the leagues of prison guards trying to escape her wrath. Her arms reached forever in darkness, coiling her prey in her clutches, drawing them to her, sucking their very souls from them. She gritted her teeth as she crushed the pedophile she found, seizing the very life from him.

_LINDSEY STOP!_

A voice called out to her—her voice? No…Caleb? Nathan?

_Where are you_, _Nathan? Caleb_?

No, it wasn't Caleb and it certainly wasn't Nathan for that matter. Suddenly, a brilliant flash of red energy smashed into her, knocking her from the sky.

Once again, she was falling…forever falling into the darkness. She felt arms catch her before she fell to the ground, hearing a faint, yet booming cry in the distant parts of her mind. She slipped away…falling…forever falling…

…into the black…


	33. The Remnant

"What happened?" Lindsey asked, coming groggily to consciousness. She could tell that she was in the X-Jet, but litte more. She felt as if she'd had the worst night's sleep ever.

"We're not exactly sure," Cyclops looked down at her from his ruby quartz goggles. She could tell that the expression on his face was grim. She didn't remember much, if anything. She sat up and tried to think back, her head throbbing underneath the lights of the jet. They were what was causing so much pain, she realized. She shielded her eyes.

"Can you dim the lights?" she pleaded.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Lindsey," Cyclops replied. She frowned her brow and looked at him. What was he talking about? Why wouldn't he just dim the lights? What had happened? Was the mission over? Were the Cassidy's alright? She looked around and discovered that Sean, Moira and Siryn were all safely buckled into the passenger seats of the X-Jet. Their expressions too, were quite grim.

She looked around some more, in search for Druida. Was she flying the jet? No, surely it was on autopilot. She looked over and saw her friend lying still and lifeless on the floor beside her.

"Druida! Is she okay?" Lindsey prayed a thousand silent prayers, preparing herself for the worst.

"She'll be fine. The gun shot wounds are minor, nothing that Lifestream can't take care of," Cyclops assured. "Do you remember what happened?"

"I remember that we made in the prison...I found Moira and I...got her to the X-Jet...then...blank," she looked at him, hoping to find some answers.

"You don't remember what happened when you came back?" he demanded?

"I came back?" she asked, bewildered.

"Yes. You came back and you were completely out of control, Nightmare! Your powers started feeding on every person you could find. Druida tried to stop you but you began to attack her as well. I had to blast you, which is why you feel like you've been run over by a truck," he explained. He didn't sound happy, but he didn't sound infuriated, as she expected him to be. It was starting to come back to her. Yes--her power was completely intoxicating. Feeding on peoples' darkest thoughts gave her such a rush, an exhiliration. Her fury could only be tamed by lashing out at them.

_What's happening to me_? she thought in despair as the tears came rolling down her cheek.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to...I..." she fought for words. She had nearly killed Druida because of her recklessness.

"It's okay, Nightmare. We're going to have you looked at as soon as we get back to the mansion. It's alright. Just get some sleep and we'll talk about this later," he assured. She lied back and looked over at Druida. She reached for her hand and squeezed it. It was still warm to the touch, full of life. She watched as her chest rose and fell as her breathing was steady.

She didn't know Druida that well before, but now, Lindsey felt closer to her than ever. She knew all of Druida's darkest fears and sins. She knew all the things that only the closest of friends tell people. She felt connected to her in a way she couldn't explain. It had been the same way with Typo, and now with all of the others who she used her power on. She would be glad when she was back at home at the mansion. Caleb would make her feel better. She didn't know if Cyclops would let her go on any missions after what she'd done. She didn't know if she really wanted to go on anymore after that.

_No...this is part of who you are! You have to keep going_, she reminded herself of her real agenda. The more she thought about the terrible effects of her power, the happier the thought of unleashing them on Mindflare became. He was powerful, but he was no match for her. She was naturally resistant to everything he did. She would drag him into the terrible bowels of her mind, into her darkest thoughts--into her nightmare.

_Soon_...

"We're almost there," Jean assured from the cockpit. Typo looked out the window at the terrain below. He'd always seen Russia depicted as a snowy, cold place, but it didn't look cold in the least down below. Storm was beginning her descent to land on an airstrip. He knew that not because she had announced it, but because he was in constant communication with the machine. He liked to be aware of his surroundings as much as possible.

He stole a glance over at Forge. He seemd to be in a state of meditation, completely oblivious to everything around him. He wasn't like that the entire trip. Most of the time, he and Forge exchanged life stories, while Storm and Jean talked about who knows what from the cockpit. They were laughing like giddy little girls some of the time--an interesting thing, for women their age, he thought. Then again, he wasn't an expert on understanding women. In fact, he was about as knowledgeable as a palsey victim performing brain surgery with a pipe wrench. They seemed to be really close, Jean and Storm, like sisters.

He didn't know if one should consider he and Forge close or not. They were friendly, and liked each other. It wasn't as if they'd bared their hearts to each other or anything. In fact, they didn't really know too much about each other. It worked that way though. They were comfortable letting the other person reveal only as much as they wanted to about themselves and however much time that took. It was a good setup, Typo thought. If knowing things about people was a measure of closeness, than Lindsey was the closest friend he had ever had. She had been able to conjure up every guilty pleasure he had ever induldged in like it was nothing. She sucked the thoughts right out of his mind, he felt. He didn't tell anyone what else had happened. When she leeched his dark thoughts out, her own had leaked into his mind. Most of it was fragments and mixed emotions. It was mostly hatred towards Mindflare and the Brotherhood. He shared the sentiment.

He held his nose and forced the pressure in his head to release through his ears, a motion he hated to take. It was infinitely worse, he thought, to have the feeling that his head weighed a thousand pounds and not being able to hear anything. They were nearly on the ground. He expected the landing to be a lot rougher than it was. Instead, it was butter smooth. The drove the jet into a hangar for maintenance and refueling.

"Time to catch up with an old friend," Jean spouted with a smile. Typo was quite interested in meeting Colossus. His mutant power was quite intriguing to him. Apparently, he was able to transform his skin into a kind of steel alloy, even over his eyes. This gave him superior strength and near invulnerability. He was supposed to be quite a character as well.

As Typo stepped off of the plane, the first thing that he noticed was the massive fields that had been plowed and planted in. The stretched on for miles, as far as he could see. Someone was quite the farmer around here, he figured.  
"JEAN! STORM!" a voice rang out through the hangar. Typo trained his eyes to find where the sound was coming from and discovered a massive man with jet black hair cut in a crew cut. Though he'd never met the man, he immediately recognized him as Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin, known among mutant circles as Colossus. Typo was hoping that he would get to see him in his metallic form and figured that he would eventually.

"Pete!" Storm called out, waving and smile. Jean returned the sentiment with a warm smile and a wave.

"Long time no see!" he yelled out, his voice thick with a Russian accent. He embraced the women one by one and then stole a glance at Forge and Typo.

"Pete, I don't know if you remember Forge or not," Jean motioned to him. They shook hands.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't. Pleased to meet you...again," the Russian smiled.

"Likewise," Forge replied.

"And this is Typo, one of our new recruits," Jean added. Typo stuck his hand out and shook Colossus's hand. His grip was firm and strong.

"A pleasure," the man assured him. "I hate to be rude, but we must be taking off soon."

"I thought that we were leaving tomorrow," Jean objected.

"We have reason to believe that the Old Soviets are aware of our intentions to leave the country with supplies to The Remnant. We cannot afford to fail this delivery, it will fund our campaign for a year," he frowned.

"I understand. We'll have to haul our equipment into one of your planes then," Jean started.

"If it's okay, I'd like it if you could take your jet, even haul some extra stuff for us. It would take more time to unload it than to refuel and bring it along," he explained.

"That's fine with us," Jean confirmed. "Will you at least ride with us so that we can catch up?"

"I'd be delighted. We're shooting to leave in one hour," he added. And so they prepared to drive the supply train to Israel.

Shockwave and Hypno carried Vortex to the infirmiry, where Lifestream was going to get him all fixed up. She wasn't there but she'd got the message that she was supposed to be. It wouldn't be too long before she left her patrol and came down to take care of things.

Shockwave looked down at Vortex and couldn't help but smile. He was completely limp and docile. He couldn't even move his mouth and say anything...poor guy. Shockwave was glad that, to date, he had not encountered Exus in a fight. She was said to be among the deadliest of the Brotherhood, with no value for human life and no hesitation to kill.

"Is he in the infirmiry?" a call came into Shockwave's communicator.

"Yeah, Lifestream. He's waiting for you," he replied.

"Good. I'll be there soon," she ended the link.

"Hey, Shockwave?" it was Rogue from the War Room communicator.

"Yes?"

"The other jet is going to be here in a few hours and I need you to prep the hangar for their landing. Can you do that?" she asked.

"It would be my pleasure, Rogue."

"Thanks, Sugar. Hypno, you can help him too," she added. Hypno gave Shockwave a sideways look and shrugged.

"Okay," he replied plainly to appease Rogue. There was a little more to prepping the hangar than one would think. They had to be sure that all of the entry ports into the mansion were completely operational. That meant checking them from the computer and actually going to physically see if they were working. Not a hard job, just a little time involved. It wasn't a big deal, he would have an excuse to hang around until Nightmare came back. He'd get to see her getting off of the plane, and he was glad for that.

_Maybe I should get something for her...no that's so cheesy. It was just a mission_.

He decided that coming to see her land would be a good enough sentiment. He wondered what was going on with Beast and the other X-Men who had suddenly vanished. It could be one of two things, he thought. It could either be that it was so dangerously top secret that no one could know, or it was so safely routine that no one cared to even mention it.

Either way, it was some time to hang out with his cousin, which he didn't get to do too much of. They spent time with each other, sure. But they were always training and preparing for the war that they really didn't have too much time to leisure. He couldn't help but bring back to his mind that Garrett had showed up out of nowhere to rescue them from Mindflare's grasp. And he had tried to sell him out to the MCA!

If there was anyone that the MCA should want to get their hands on, it would be Mindflare! He was the one who had started the whole war in the first place.

_Why on earth would they want me_?

"Markas," Shockwave said, getting his cousin's attention.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I've just been thinking about Garrett...he's alive," saying the words aloud, and being to think about them threw his mind for an absolute loop.

"Yeah, I know. They found pieces of him and we had a funeral and everything," he pointed out.

"Well, my parents had a funeral for me, they don't even know that I'm alive. I think that it's better that way. My parents would never approve of me being an X-Man," he smiled a bittersweet smile, thinking about his past.

"Well, Garrett's like the best assassin on the planet, so you're better by comparison," Hypno joked. Coming from anyone else, it would not have been funny but he was family.

"You think he'll be alright?"

"You saw what he was doing against them with just a sword. They had guns and he was still all like gung-ho assassin on them," he assured. Shockwave didn't need too much more comfort in that area. His brother had helped Mindflare escape from the mansion, attacked and defeated the X-Men. Surely, he could handle the MCA.

"I'm not sure what to think about him," Shockwave confessed.

"Why not?"

"In the X-Men's eyes, he's an enemy. He attacked Lindsey, broke Mindflare and Exus loose and fought the other X-Men. From what I gather, he did all of that for money, as well as all of the other 'jobs' that he's done. This used to be Garrett for crying out loud!"

"I know! It's so wierd. He helped us though, so maybe they'll give him credit for that."

"Doubt it; I wouldn't. I don't know what he thinks he's doing or how he got into being an assassin. It tore his mom's heart in two when we found his remains. Why didn't he tell us he was alive?"

"Probably for the same reason that you don't tell em you're alive...there's not turning back now," Hypno's words stung a little bit. At first, his arguement would be that his case was different, but it was not legitimate. He immediately felt guilty but it passed as quickly as it had come.

"I guess. I hope that I get to see him again...under a little bit different circumstances."

"Yeah, like when Mindflare's not trying to hand us over to the MCA! What the heck was up with that, by the way?"

"I'm still rolling that one around in my mind. I can't believe that the MCA aren't after _him_! He's the one who started this whole mess. Instead, he makes a trap to get me! That's so oh dear!"

"How did he know you'd come?"

"He couldn't have. There's a grip of us...Cyclops could've sent anyone or all of us."

"You don't think that someone leaked information out as to what's going on do you?" Hypno stopped walking and looked at Shockwave as if he'd insinuated such a thing.

"No, that doesn't seem likely. He'd have to pull some of his mind tricks to work all of that and I don't think he's been able to. I don't know. Everything is kind up in the air right now," he admitted. Hypno put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Everything's gonna be okay," he said with his goofy smile.

"Yeah," Shockwave was a horrible liar, and he knew that Hypno wouldn't buy it. He could read his mind anyway. He was getting the same feeling that he got right before the mansion was attacked the first time...like something terrible was about to happen. He kept his mind on his work for the next couple of hours, waiting for Nightmare to arrive.

Titan looked himself over in the mirror. He wanted everything to be perfect for when he was reunited with Lindsey again. He smiled every time he thought of her, being able to have her in his arms one more time. He dressed in nice jeans, a long sleeve black shirt, and he gelled his hair. He was looking as snazzy as he could.

Her jet had flown in only minutes earlier. It would take her a while to get out of uniform and all of that. He'd got some intel from Rogue that after a mission, she usually took a walk in the gardens. He was on his way there now, figuring he would once again beat her there, wait for her and surprise her. He took off as fast as he could, holding a single, red rose for her.

Their reunion was going just as he'd planned. It would be perfect.

**_Less than an hour later..._**

Lindsey and Caleb walked arm in arm along the path in the gardens. The evening sun was still high in the sky. She was recapping the ordeal she'd gone through while on her mission. She didn't know why she didn't feel worse than she did. She had hurt a lot of people, including Druida really badly. Even after Lifestream had healed her, she woke up sobbing from the emotional trauma, only able to rest. The entire experience had empowered her and the more that she reflected on it, the more that she realized how much potential she had not yet unlocked about her power.

She listened closely as Caleb told the tail of his encounter with Hybrid, who was acutally his long-lost brother who had been assumed dead for years. She was filled with a dark pleasure when he'd mentioned Mindflare and the Brotherhood. The idea of her soon-coming revenge seemed to be her only fuel as of late.

"So I guess we've both had a really interesting couple of days," he said, taking a seat on the fountain. She sat down beside him and let him embrace her. They sat there, together looking up at the sun, slowly setting in the horizon.

"Are you scared?" he asked her suddenly.

"No. I know, it surprises me too. I think that I've finally just brought myself to terms with the fact that we're fighting a war. I'm ready to do whatever it takes," she replied.

"I guess that's a better than fear. I'm just so troubled about everything that's come up. I don't even really know what's going on but it's clear that something is stirring," he frowned. She looked up at him in the eyes as he spoke.

"You mean about Mindflare?"  
"Yeah, and how he's working with the MCA to capture me, for a reason that escapes me. Not just that, but Garrett being the Hybrid and showing up out of nowhere. None of it makes any sense."

"I guess we'll just have to jump that hurdle when we get to it," she said brightly. He looked at her with a warm smile and held her tightly. She welcomed his embrace and tried to soak in yet another good moment that they could share among the moments of terror and war that were coming upon them. She was glad for moments like these; they made her feel normal.

She suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure emerging from the bushes, letting her know that she and Caleb were not alone. She looked at the man in disbelief. She stood and looked him straight in the eyes and nearly fainted. Caleb saw him too; his eyes were wide with complete surprise.

"Hello, Lindsey," he said monotonously. He was holding a single rose. He stood six feet tall, very muscular, blonde hair and blue eyes, with an expression of inexplicable sorrow on his face. He gripped the rose so hard that the thorns dug into his flesh and blood trickled through his fingers. The orange glow of the sun cast him in perfect light as he stepped forward.

She gasped and stumbled back, tears streaming down her face. How could this be? Why? Why now? She didn't have the words to say to him. She didn't have the means to explain to him what had gone on while he was gone. She couldn't even imagine explain the love that had bloomed between her and Caleb. Seeing him was not a happy moment as she'd planned, but one that filled her heart with confusion and doubt.

"Long time no see," he said bitterly, throwing a glance at Caleb.

"You're alive," Caleb observed aloud, in disbelief.

"You sound a little disappointed!" he snapped hatefully. Caleb winced with surprise.

"No...I just...thought that..."

"Save it. Lindsey, I want to know why, and I want to know why right now," he said, shifting his gaze.

She couldn't even bring the words to her mind, let alone speak them. She could only stare in disbelief and cry tears of sorrow and gladness.

_God, help me_.

Israel was exactly as Typo had imagined it to be. It was sand, desert and rock. There was green everywhere that he could see water, but other than that, it was arid and remote. For a place so remote, there were certainly a lot of people. Many of The Remnant members had come out to meet them. The X-Jet was the first plane to touch down, followed by several more of Colossus's. They opened the hatch to the jet and Colossus went before them to meet The Remnant.

A young brunette woman dressed in white silken clothes, that looked very desert like approached him. They followed close and stood behind Colossus as the woman spoke.

"You must be Colossus," she extended her hand and a bright smile.

"Yes, a pleasure to meet you," he replied kissing her hand.

"And these are your friends, the X-Men?" she asked, shooting welcoming glances at all of them.

"Yes, this is their leader, Dr. Jean Gray," the shook hands and exchanged greetings. "This is Storm, Forge and Typo."

"A pleasure to meet you all; The Remnant welcomes you. My name is Carrie Fischer, no relation to the actor, but you may call me Terra," she replied.

"Are you the leader of The Remnant?" Jean asked, getting to the point of business.

"No. I'm a right-hand-man of sorts. I handle all of The Remnants business deals. I report directly to Mr. Ben-Joseph himself," she announced with a sense of pride. She looked a little young to be handling business affairs, Typo thought. But if she was capable, who was he to question her position?

"Ben-Joseph? As in Ezra Ben-Joseph?" Storm asked with a perplexed look.

"One and the same," Terra replied.

"I never would have guessed that he was the leader of The Remnant," Storm confessed.

"Most people wouldn't. That is why we have been so successful thus far. Even people who have tried to leak the information out have been unsuccessful because it seems so farfetched," she explained. Even Typo recognized the name Ezra Ben-Joseph. He had caused quite an uproar in Israel a few years back, rising up and claiming to be the long-awaited Messiah for the Jewish people. That was the pinnacle in their religion. As expected, half of the population believed him and embraced him as their savior, and the other half opposed him, many groups for different reasons.

Typo knew that this was going to be one interesting experience.


	34. Duel

Lindsey's entire world began to collapse around her. Months ago she would have longed for this day and now that it was here, she had nothing but confusion and questions. Nathan was dead; she was sure of it.

_Was he? Or did you just assume?_ She asked herself. The truth was that after so long, she had just moved on, not knowing whether or not she should have. She had given up the idea that he was alive and that they could be together. She felt that her and Caleb's relationship was a mistake, in the sense that it had happened too quickly.

_NO! He's been nothing but good to you. He's been more than you could have ever asked for. It's not fair to him to regard our relationship as a mistake_.

"Nathan…I…" she had no words. She could barely bring herself to stand up. She didn't know what to do. Part of her wanted to go and run into his arms and fall apart. She wanted him to hold her and kiss her and love her again. Her heart ached for it. But it burned for Caleb now. What could she do?

"It's only been eight months. Was it so easy for you to move on?" he demanded.

"No, Nathan! I thought that you were dead," she defended.

"Why?"

"I waited by the phone for months, waited for you to call…but you never did," she couldn't say anymore. She could only hope that he'd have something to say. There was a silence.

"You were the only thing that kept me going…the thought that I might get to see you one more time. And now…"

"Nathan…"

"No! It's fine. You've moved on; you're happy—I can accept that,"

"Nathan stop," Lindsey interjected.

"What do you expect me to say?"

"We just need to talk this over."

"We're looking at this all wrong. Nathan, we're so glad you're okay…" Caleb piped in.

"I really don't want to talk to you, Caleb. Why don't you take a walk and let me and Lindsey talk?" Nathan snapped.

"You don't have to be like this, Nate. We didn't do this purposely to hurt you," Caleb shot back.

"Just stop," Nathan warned, lowering his voice.

"Nathan just listen to what…"

"I don't wanna listen!" He erupted with anger and gave Caleb a shove. He stumbled backwards and nearly fell into the fountain.

"Nathan, stop!" Lindsey protested.

"That's right, Lin! Defend him! I thought I was the only one you wanted. I hope the two of you are real happy together!" He screamed hatefully at her.

"Nathan! You are out of control! Don't talk to her like that! Take a walk and come back when you cool off and then we'll talk!" Caleb suggested.

"Don't tell me what I'm gonna do! _You_ need to take a walk and let me and Lindsey talk now."

Caleb just stood his ground. He didn't reply to Nathan but let him know he wasn't going anywhere or leaving Lindsey alone. She was in tears now.

"I thought you were my friend, Caleb," Nathan bitterly spat through clenched teeth.

"I am your friend, Nathan."

"I see as soon as I'm out of the way and take everything I care about. Some friend you are."

"It's not like that you know it!"

"Sure seems that way!"

"Guys, stop," Lindsey pleaded but they couldn't hear her.

"Take a walk, calm down and we'll talk about this later," Caleb said again, this time more firmly than the last.

"How about you quit telling me what to do!" Nathan shouted and took a threatening step closer to Caleb.

"Back off, Nate," Caleb warned.

"Or what?"

"Guys, stop!" Lindsey pleaded, seeing the potential fight coming into fruition.

"I'm telling you, Nate; you had better back off!"

"You'd better quit telling me what to do!" Nathan snapped, taking another step towards Caleb. Now, he was in his face, looking him right in the eye.

"Get out of my face."

"What are you gonna do?"

"Get out of my face, Nate!"

"Do something!"

"I'm not gonna tell you again!"

"Guys, stop!" she continued in desperation to no avail.

"C'mon!" Nathan shoved Caleb and somewhere, in the distant corners of his mind was the last straw. Without warning he unleashed a burst wave square into his chest, sending him flying backward and into the bushes. It was a little more powerful than he'd originally intended but he got his point across with compensation.

The fallen warrior rose to his feet, fueled by an untamed anger, no longer a mere man, known by the name of his birth, but a Titan, feared even by the gods. He gazed across the way to meet his opponent: a powerful, well trained, X-Man—Shockwave. Both of them were defending something they felt they had right to: the love of a woman.

Titan advanced, charging with all of the speed and strength in him. Shockwave threw another _boom_ his way, but he jumped above in anticipation. He rolled and hit him in the chest, sending him flying backwards. To his surprise, it was like hitting a wall of steel. His mutation threw out involuntary _booms_ in retaliation to attacks. Shockwave came back with a counterattack of kicks and punches and they engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Shockwave put _booms_ behind each blow which equaled out to Titan's strength. Titan was surprised by how fast he was for not having an accelerated speed mutation. Then again, the man fighting him now was nowhere near the boy he'd known before. This was a strong, agile warrior, fighting with skill. Titan was still faster, but even when he could sneak a blow in, Shockwave's defenses kept them from being as effective as he would've liked them to be.

Trying a new tactic, he grabbed Shockwave by the shoulders, picked him up, and threw him with all of his might. He rushed him and kicked him back up into the air, only to end up getting a _boom_ to the face as Shockwave flew by. The force of the blow bounced Titan off of the pavement, cracking it underneath him.

Both men struggled to get to their feet and resume battle. Somewhere far away was a voice pleading for them to stop. She ran frantically to find someone to help. With the sun still up, she was unable to intervene.

Titan advanced, as fast as his feet would let him go. He planned to tackle Shockwave to the ground and beat the tar out of him. He was braced for impact in case a _boom_ came his way. Shockwave stomped his foot on the ground, sending a forward, lateral _boom_ towards Titan, an unexpected move. The _boom_ was powerful enough to knock him into the air. He felt a second _boom_ launch him even further into the air. Looking down, he could see Shockwave flying up after him. No doubt jumping with a _boom_ behind him. Suddenly above him, he gave him a double-fisted blow with a powerful _boom_, sending him plummeting down the way he'd come. He landed on his back and hit his head, knocking the wind out him and making him a little dizzy. He could feel the tingle of his healing factor kick in.

Shockwave used his waves to let him hover back to the ground. He stood some twenty feet away from Titan.

"We're done, Nate," Shockwave said sternly. A smile full of adrenaline of the rush of the fight crossed Titan's face.

"Not even close, Caleb. We're just getting started." He picked up a brick from the broken walkway, hopped to his feet, and hurled the brick at Shockwave's head.

Shockwave used a boom to crush the rock but couldn't keep from guarding a blow dealt to his gut. He was only stunned for a second, and so the fight continued.

* * *

"Help! Someone help!" Lindsey burst into the commons like a locomotive. Markas dropped his video game controller to discover the commotions source. He reached out with his psyche to touch her mind, forgetting about her natural resistances to telepathy, he hit a brick wall.

"What's wrong?" he asked, grabbing her by the shoulders. She was out of breath, unable to speak.

"Caleb…Nathan…they…"

"Calm down! Lindsey let down your mental barriers…it'll be quicker." She nodded and he took another dive. He dove into a chaotic mess of emotions: confusion, hurt, fear, passion, rage. He saw his cousin fighting the long-thought dead, former love of her life, Nathan viciously fighting in the gardens.

The glazed-over look in their eyes told him they were out for blood. Since the sun-bathed garden cast such a light on them, she was unable to do anything to stop them.

The windows began to rattle with the force of Caleb's _booms_. Markas searched her mind, discovering the vastness of Nathan's power. Things didn't look good. He'd have to hurry before they killed each other.

* * *

The gardens' statues were in shambles and large, violent crags and craters desecrated the once-sacred grounds. Occasionally, waves from Caleb's _booms_ sent an almost wind whizzing through the air. Lindsey and Markas ran to the gardens until Caleb and Nathan were in full view. They were engaged in an atrocious brawl, two unstoppable forces to the average man. But Markas was no average man. Without reserve, he used his telekinesis to ensnare Nathan. He squeezed him painfully and lifted him into the air. While maintaining his grip, he reached out and did the same to Caleb. Both men were in a raging frenzy, lost in the heat of battle and struggling to be free. He used his telepathy to invade their non-psychic minds, and easy task when their mind was only on one track. He used his power to make his voice loud, forceful and commanding in their heads.

"Stop it! Both of you! You could have killed each other! As soon as you stop struggling and cool off, I'll let you go," Markas offered, tightening his telekinetic vice and intensified his psychic assault.

Caleb relented first, knowing that he would not be able to break free. Nathan fought for only seconds longer before he also submitted to Markas's grasp. After checking their minds' intentions to see if they were going to start fighting again or not, he let them drop to the ground. Both landed on their feet, Caleb using his power to soften his landing.

Markas looked his cousin over. He'd grown leaps and bounds since his arrival at the mansion, especially in the area of controlling his powers. He'd been doing so well, especially after befriending Beast and hooking up with Lindsey. It seemed he had had a good chance at of having a normal mutant life, if there ever were such a thing. Now, Nathan turned up alive and well and out of nowhere. Markas was glad to see it, and knew that Caleb felt the same way. His life had suddenly taken a huge leap into complicated since Nathan was back in the picture…not to mention that his brother was really The Hybrid, the MCA was after him and Mindflare was helping them.

_You okay_? He asked telepathically.

_Do I look okay_? He snapped back. Markas took the point well. The four of them stood there, exchanging awkward, tense glances.

_Time for me to duck out_, Markas thought to himself. He kept himself slightly connected to Nathan and Caleb, just in case either of them decided to blow another fuse.

"Lindsey, I'm sorry," he heard Caleb say as he tried to apologize.

"Just stop, Caleb!"

"Lindsey, I…" Nathan started. Markas could only barely hear them now. He dove into Caleb's mind so he could hear what he heard as he made his way back to the mansion.

"I can't deal with this right now. Just leave me alone! Both of you!" There was a pause. Maraks was just about to disconnect when he heard Nathan began to speak.

"Good job…" he couldn't tell if he was talking to himself or to Caleb.

"You didn't exactly help the matter, Nate. You were completely out of control!"

"How did you expect me to react, Caleb?"

"I didn't expect you to pick a fight. I never expected you at all. And I am not disappointed. I'm just so surprised—you dropped off the face of the earth," his tone began to change. The hostility in his voice eased away. "Where'd you go?"

"To Hell…" Nathan hissed bitterly. "The MCA abducted me, experimented on me, trained me to be a killer…made me try to kill your brother…"

"Garrett?"

"Yeah…in case you didn't know…he's…"

"The Hybrid, I know," there was another awkward silence. "I'm glad you're okay, Nate."

"Are you?" it was a genuine question with only a hint of bitterness.

"Yes, I am. Regardless of what you believe, I am so glad to see you alive. I know you're angry about me and Lindsey but believe me, it wouldn't have happened if we knew that you were alive."

"But you didn't know that I was dead for sure either, so that's no excuse. You can't expect me to believe that there wasn't something there," Nathan retorted.

"Lindsey's a special woman; we both know that. I'm not going to apologize for falling for her," Caleb said adamantly. Another silence, this time tense.

"How are we supposed to settle this?"

"Ultimately, she's going to have to make a choice."

"That's your solution, Caleb? Just have her pick one of us?"

"It's going to come to that eventually. I'm not saying we storm the door now. She's gonna need some time."

"Fair enough. Until then, I don't think things can be comfortable between us, at least not on my part," Nathan admitted.

"What if she chooses me, Nate? Can things ever be cool between us?"

"What makes you think she'll pick you?"

"I'm with her now and she's always faithful to her commitments."

"What about her commitment to me?" Nathan demanded.

"I didn't mean it like that. I want to know if things can ever be cool between _us_," he replied.

"Okay. So what in the meantime?"

"Your call. I'm cool. I know I got a little out of control earlier…"

"We both did," Nathan admitted.

"If things are uncomfortable for you, we can keep our space. I'd like if things could be cool between us; we've got a lot of catching up to do," he suggested hopefully.

"I'm good so long as we're not talking about you and Lindsey," Nathan warned.

"That's fine with me," Caleb replied, maybe a little too cheerfully.

"Temporary truce, then?"

"How about a real truce, Nate? We were friends before we met Lindsey. Even if we love the same woman, we shouldn't let something like that get in the way of us being friends," Caleb offered.

"Sounds good," Nathan conceded.

Markas closed off the telepathic link to Caleb's hearing. He was glad to see they weren't going to fight anymore. Still, all was not right in the mansion. There were still teams out and away from home, the MCA was still on the hunt for Caleb, The Hybrid had surfaced from hiding, and it would only be a matter of time before he chose a side. Something was amiss.

It wouldn't be long before things got really bad, Markas knew. They had only fought small, preliminary battles compared to the war that was coming their way. Who knew who would live, who would die or get captured? The future was so uncertain. The only certainty was that things were going to get worse before they got any better.

His mind fell on the team that was still out in Israel. Markas had begun to reflect on his most recent session with Jean.

"You've done so great, Hypno," she had said. She was speaking as if their training was in the past as of that moment.

"Thank you. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Everything is fine. I think that you have learned everything that you can from me, Hypno. Anything more will come from you practicing and stretching your abilities from here," she smiled sadly.

"So you're not going to teach me anymore?" he questioned.

"If you ever need any help with your powers, I'll be here. You don't need me to coach you anymore, Hypno. You have enough power, discipline and control to be a full-fledged X-Man. You could even lead the team," she admitted.

"I don't feel ready for something like that, honestly."

"You'll know when it's time, Hypno. It has been such a pleasure teaching you."

The look on his face scared him. It made him feel as if the end was near…not the end but, The End. Times like now were scary times to live in. Things were not safe for anyone. Catastrophe seemed it was just around the corner.

A grim feeling fell over him as he stared up in the sky in horror at what he saw. In the sky, were a swarm of robots—Sentinels—en route to the mansion. They would be at the mansion in mere minutes.

_It has begun_…

* * *

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…

On the sixth day, God created man…

In the last days, man forgot God…

For every beginning there is an end. There will come a day where man will either destroy itself or the world it lives in. With so many hearts full of hate, and minds clouded with pride and ego, this world is on a steady degeneration toward a catastrophic end. For the sins of man have overtaken them…

…and the wages of sin is death…

As I looked, I saw a great storm coming toward me from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light. The fire inside the cloud glowed like gleaming amber…

…and the fire that consumes all was unleashed to wreck havoc on the world for a time…


	35. Night Of The Sentinels

Typo followed after the others, led by Terra into a grand hall, fit for asking. The stone pillars bordering either side of the room were as big around as redwood trees, and looked to be carved by hand. Draped between the pillars were statues that looked to be of Assyrian origin. There were also glass cases with holy books like the Torah, the Kabbala, and the Koran on display. Paintings and works of art donned the hall, giving it an historical gallery look.

"Quite a place," Forge admired aloud.

"Indeed. It is magnificent," Colossus beamed in agreement, his Russian accent thick as skin.

Typo was not at ease. There were all kinds of machinery and technology hidden underneath the grandeur of the room. At any moment, they could be cut down by laser machine gun turrets. There were cameras covering every angle of the hall. Even if they were activated, he had already planted a mind-worm into the system to corrupt it if necessary. Even though they were, "among friends," as Terra had so eloquently put it, he wasn't the kind of person who took chances.

The grand hall teed and they took a right. Through that door was the largest, most decorated office Typo had ever laid eyes upon. There were paintings, sculptures and decorative weapons donning the walls and corners. The oak desk was bigger that Typo's bed. Behind the desk was a massive fish aquarium with tropical fish. The light was dim and gave it a very homey atmosphere. Behind the oak desk was a man made very famous through international news, the Israeli revolutionary, Ezra Ben-Joseph.

"Welcome, Friends. I am Ezra Ben-Joseph. If there is anything that you desire, food or drink, don't hesitate to ask. I will have my attendant see to it," he said with a warm, deep, pleasant voice.

"We're fine, thank you," Jean politely declined. "My name is Doctor Jean Summers, this is Storm, Colossus, Forge and Typo."

"A pleasure... I have a great many questions for you, X-Men," he began.

"You've heard of us," Storm observed aloud.

"Heard of you! You are the stuff of heroes for mutantkind in the United States."

"We do our best to respect the rights of mankind as a whole," Jean corrected. "We fight for a world were human and mutant can live alongside each other in piece."

"I'm afraid that hopes of that world are slowly fading," he grimaced.

"Unfortunately, yes it is. We all hate to see that it has come to such a place as this. It won't be long before open war begins."

"Forgive me, my lady, but it already has. Here in the Middle East, the governments are in open war to create a second holocaust for my people," he corrected.

"The Jews?" Typo asked, not sure what he meant.

"Mutants," he replied with a smile. He returned his focus to Jean. "If you don't mind me asking, what is your interest in the Remnant?"

"For a long time, we have been funding our campaign using the finances left to us from Professor Charles Xavier, my predecessor. Since training, missions and supplies are so costly, especially since we can only buy from mutant-friendly suppliers, those funds are diminishing.

"Forge is our resident inventor. He designs, builds and maintains all of our vehicles, weapons and other gear with the help of his tech team. This is Typo, he designs the software we need to power the technology we develop."

"Together, I'm sure they make a formidable pair," Ben-Joseph admired.

"Quite. Colossus, who is your supplier from Russia, gave us the tip that you were buying from him. Our proposal is that you take a look at our weapons and software for a potential supply line to assist your cause. I assure you that our stuff is the top of the line, unparalleled to anything any army under the sun possesses."

"That's quite a boast. I have my own team of inventors and weapons designers here. Most of what I buy, is the raw goods to manufacture the weapons. I will certainly take a look, but I'm not making any promises to buy," he admitted.

"That's fine. All we ask is that you have a look," Storm interjected.

"I will take a look. I hope that either way, this will result in a long, lasting friendship between our people."

"We were hoping for the same," Jean smiled. "We don't share the same methods, but we understand that you're trying to protect mutants from extinction, and you're willing to fight for that; we are too. I'm not familiar with which governments or organizations you are battling, but we fight the MCA, the Mutant Containment Agency, for our right to live freely in America," Jean explained.

"I have heard of the MCA and I think that it is atrocious what they are doing to mutants. I hope that you are successful in foiling their plot to destroy mutants."

"I don't think that it's just the United States that they want to stop at; when they're done there they will try to move on to the entire world," Storm chimed her opinion in, irrelevant as it was to the issue at hand.

As forthcoming as Ben-Joseph was being and as much as Typo could tell that the others were eating out of his hand, he didn't trust him at all. For one thing, he was being cloaked by holographic technology. The man before them was either not Ezra Ben-Joseph, but a pretender, or he was Ezra Ben-Joseph who had never been revealed to the world as his true self.

There must have been psychic barriers also shielding his form because even when Typo had tried to shut down the holograms, his image did not change. He was going to say something but he knew that if the psychic projecting the astral image before them was powerful enough to fool Jean, than they were all dealing out of their league.

It's okay, Typo. I know that he's shielding himself from us. Don't make any commotion, we'll let him think that he has one up on us...for now, she sent him a telepathic message. He simply gave a mental nod, letting her know that he would follow suit. Even with Jean knowing what was going on, he still didn't feel at ease. There was something very wrong about The Remnant and with Ezra Ben-Joseph.

* * *

"Do you hear that?" Titan asked, hearing the sounds of jet engines in the sky. 

"Yeah. Oh, God," Shockwave spun around, bewildered at the sight. There were dozens of robots flying in the sky from many directions, all making a beeline for the mansion.

"What are they?" Nathan exclaimed, though he feared that he knew exactly what they were. Mystique's words were echoing his his ears now. If the Sentinels had been deployed, they were about to have a major war on their hands. He remembered from his talk with her and Hybrid that there was one of those killing machines for every mutant man, woman and child. It reminded him of the science-fiction movies that he'd been entertained by so much as a teenager. Now this apocalyptic scenario was unfolding right before his eyes.

"Sentinels! Robots designed to hunt, kill and capture mutants! We have to get inside and regroup now!" Shockwave barked. Titan didn't waste any time to comply and bolted towards the door. He could run faster than Shockwave, he knew, but with his newfound ability to use his power to hover, he could propel himself at incredible speeds several feet off of the ground.

_Impressive_, Titan admired. He still wasn't used the dramatic change that Shockwave had undergone in the past year.

Suddenly, lasers began to burn hot craters into the ground behind them as the Sentinels attempted to fry them. Luckily, they were moving fast enough to avoid injury. They stormed into the doors of the mansion, expecting to have the Sentinels follow them. Instead, heavy metal clanks sounded all around the building as the Sentinels landed.

"X-Men, your base is surrounded. Please surrender yourselves or we will apprehend you with force. You have two minutes to comply," a robotic male voice sounded over a loud speaker from one of the robots.

_Wonderful. _

A few teenagers flooded into the hall that they were in, peering out the window to see the view. He saw Lindsey come with an entourage of escorts, one of which was the mutant that had broke up he and Shockwave's fight.

"Everyone get to the subbasement now!" he ordered. Everyone didn't take time for a second though. they began to retreat to wooden indentations in the wall which were revealed to be secret elevators. He was becoming more and more impressed by this place by the second. His mind was a little too preoccupied to really take it all in.

"X-Men, suit up!" Shockwave added. Another group filed to a specific elevator, as if it were designated for them. Titan followed hard after them, determined to get into the fray.

"Who is this guy?" a young man demanded.

"He's a friend of ours," Shockwave replied, keeping explanations to a minimum. It didn't look like it satisfied the kid.

"A friend of whose?"

"Mine and Shockwave's," Lindsey interjected, speaking with a tone that told him to drop it. It wasn't as if a small army of mutant-killing robots were assembling outside after all.

"Is he gonna fight with us?" the same kid demanded.

"We need all the help we can get at this point, Palisade," the leader shot back. It seemed like it would finally silence the kid. Titan had one name now. It wouldn't be the best thing to go into a fight not knowing what everyone could do.

"What can all of you do?" he asked without thinking.

"No one answer that," the leader snapped. At first, Titan was about to get offended. "I can transfer all of that information into your mind a whole lot faster than they can explain it."

Titan felt his eyebrows rise. He was curious to see how he was going to implant something into his brain.

"My name is Hypno, I'm a telepath and a telekine," he offered information about himself. Titan was only vaguely familiar with the words that he used. He knew enough to know that telepaths could read minds and telekines could move things with their minds. He figured that Hypno would have to be some powerful mutant to be able to do what he said he was going to do in the time that he said he could do it. Suddenly, memories and thoughts began to flood Titan's head. It wasn't just information but actual experiences.

He learned all about Palisade and his ability to make impenetrable shields, about Stardust's sparkles and how they canceled out other elements such as electricity and fire, he got some extra insight on everything that Lindsey, or Nightmare as she was now known, and Shockwave. He was quite delighted to hear about Lifestream's ability to heal even serious wounds with little effort. He learned of Druida, Vortex, Chrona and Typo, who was absent at the moment. There was quite a number of them, almost too many to command.

"Okay guys, no arguing about this. We're going to split the team up. Half of us are going to go out and deal with the killer robots, and the other half is going to escort everyone else through the tunnels and to safety," Hypno started.

"I'm on the clean-up crew!" Vortex demanded. Others began to voice their opinions about which team they should be on.

"Shut up! Let Hypno decide; he's the leader," Shockwave interjected. They all waited in grim silence for his decision.

"Shockwave, Nightmare, Vortex, and Lifestream are going to deal with the Sentinels. The rest of you are coming with me to make sure that everyone gets out of here alive. Titan, you can choose whichever team that you'd like to be a part of, but I think you'd be most useful helping to deal with the Sentinels considering that you have all the information about their weaknesses," he narrowed his gaze at Titan. It was clear that Hypno had done some sneaking around in his mind. Now was no time to complain about the invasion; he was right. He knew how to destroy the Sentinels quite efficiently from the information that Mystique had passed on to him.

"I'll stick with the clean up crew," Titan replied. He got a few looks of disdain from some of the other members of the team, which was something he was prepared for.

"Okay, good enough. X-Men, suit up. Titan, I don't know what you brought with you hear, but you're more than welcome to get one of our suits," Hypno offered.

"I've got my own gear, but thanks."

He gathered his guns and gear from the room they'd been stored in. He could hear some of the X-Men filling Rogue in on the situation. They were advising her to retreat the mansions with the others. Nathan didn't like the idea of a pregnant woman on the run, but he didn't know how safe it was to keep her in the mansion. Either way, it wasn't his concern. The sound of the Sentinels making their final warnings for the X-Men to surrender could be faintly heard from the subbasement. Nathan double-checked everything, made sure every gun was loaded with the safety disengaged. He had plenty of explosives to blow the bots to smithereens too; he was ready. He looked over the team and noticed that he was the oldest among them. His first thought was to take charge of the team, but someone beat him to it.

"Okay, Titan, Vortex and I are going to hit the front line fast and hard. As soon as the sun goes all the way down, Nightmare will be able to port us to and from Lifestream, who will be healing us as necessary. Look alive and hold on to your limbs," Shockwave delegated. It was a good plan. He couldn't have come up with a better one on his own. He noted from Hypno's implants that Shockwave had been made the leader of the second team during their training. They were used to taking orders from him. There was no need to throw a wrench in the works unless his life or Lindsey's was put into danger because of it.

"Sounds good. I don't know how good I can be in this fight guys, other than to make sure you're all healed," Lifestream added shyly.

"In a fight like this, we're going to plenty need it," Shockwave admitted grimly. He took a look at the team with contentment in his eyes. Confidence glowed about him and inspired the others. Shockwave had always been a natural leader so it was no surprise to Titan.

They began their ascent into battle. The elevator ride seemed like it lasted for a small lifetime. The walked towards the door side-by-side in a line. The double doors they were preparing to walk through would open them to another fierce battle. Titan was impressed that with a group as young as they were, they were fearless. No longer were they helpless, as they were even when they'd had their gifts. Now, they had the ability to strike back with extreme prejudice. It was beautiful and frightening all at the same time.

Titan unsheathed one of his pistols and chambered a round. He'd loaded it with explosive rounds so they'd pack quite a bang. He was excited to get the chance to try out his new skills on some real enemies. He had to force the thought of going into battle with Lindsey far from his mind. He had to redirect his thoughts of her as Nightmare, a well-trained X-Man, instead of his delicate, long-lost love. He stole a glance at her and nearly broke. Her face was still red and puffy from the whole ordeal that had gone down. She didn't look like she was scared to go into battle so much as she was filled with overwhelming sorrow. The war had begun, and it literally on their doorstep.

They burst through the doors and walked out into the yard to face the platoon of Sentinels. They stood only about eight feet tall, shorter than the ones that Bolivar Trask had previously unleashed on the mutant community. These were updates, hardwired with a learning computer programmed to hunt and kill mutants even at the expense of its own existence...an enemy not easily dealt with.

"Please lie face down on the ground while your restraints are put into place," ordered an approaching Sentinel. They allowed it to get almost ten feet within them before Shockwave took action.

"Restrain this," he taunted raising his hand. A strange energy gathered in his hand as he focused his ability. He unleashed a powerful, focused wave straight into the face of the approaching Sentinel. The boom was loud like over-amplified bass and the Sentinel flew backwards and smashed into another unsuspecting robot. A third jumped over the jumbled mess just in time avoid getting caught in the fray. The remaining Sentinels began to approach.

And so the battle began...

* * *

From the subbasement, Cyclops helped the others lead the remaining students through the tunnels. He took the rear position and made sure that no one was left behind. He wanted so badly to be on the surface with the others, battling the Sentinels but he knew it was their time. Also, it was slightly more of his priority to see that the others were safe. There was quite a destructive team out there ready to do some serious damage. 

_You've taught them well, don't worry_, he told himself. He couldn't help but worry. They'd all become like sons and daughters to him. That is why he would fight until his last breath to defend them. There wasn't a force on earth he would not contend with on their behalf.

His thoughts fell suddenly on his wife in Israel. By now she was meeting with the leader of the Remnant and hopefully selling some gear and software to fund the X-Men's campaign. He could only hope that no battle would traspire while the team was there. He knew that there were powerful mutants like Storm and Colossus there but it gave him no comfort. It was all of his other friends he worried about more than anything. If ever Jean was provoked to unleash the Phoenix there would be all kinds of hell to pay if she went unchecked. At her full potential, only a psychic of equal or greater strength could oppose her. Now that Professor Charles Xavier was no longer living, no such person existed. He shuddered at the thought of the damamge that his wife would do and then forced himself to keep himself focused on the task at hand.

_Typo, shut down the machines that are keeping his holographic interface up and running and I will take down the psychic barrier...let's find out who he really is_, Jean sent a tele to him. He thought his agreement to her but kept his eyed fixed on Ben-Joseph. He began to reach out and touch the interfaces of the holographic machines. He hacked into them and prepared to shut them down all at once, making it look like a crash. He figured that Jean was still attached to his mind so he only thought the words of him being ready.

_Now, Typo!_

He crashed the holographic machines and Jean tore at the barriers. The image of Ezra Ben-Joseph faded away. No longer was he the robust and famous leader, but a small, frail, deformed mutant. He was hideous to look at, nothing about his was appealing at all. His hands, feet, and head were completely oversized. He was naked save for a small loincloth around his waist. His skin was a pebbled mix of green and black, scaly, like a reptile's. His eyes were oversized, black, round and lidless. There was no way to see where the pupils or irises were.

Terra gasped as she gazed upon the form of her leader. It was clear that she had never seen him like this until that moment. She stepped back and put her hand over her mouth, in shock.

"You! All this time...it was you!" they all waited in eager anticipation for Ben-Joseph to explain.

* * *

The night was wild and full of fire. The Sentinels blasted bombs, bullets and lasers to cut down the X-Men but it was to no avail. Titan dealt one of the machines and uppercut it would not easily recover from. When it was on the ground he strapped one of his explosive mines to the back of its head, one of its few softspots. When he was a safe distance away he ignited the charge, obliterating the bot. He's sustained some injuries but his healing factor kept him going. The sun was not fully down yet, so Lifestream and Nightmare remained in the backlines for the most part. 

Whenever one of the Sentinels would dare to fly, Vortex would creat unruly powerful cyclones to either tear them to pieces to smash them into one another. From the sky he sent down guided gusts of wind powerful enough to knock the machines to the ground.

Shockwave was in a frenzy, sending out _booms_ all over the place. Every now and then he would break one of the machines into pieces. It seemed to be an effective strategy but the Sentinels would liquify and the parts would come together, rebuilding the whole. It was no good unless he destroyed the super CPU chip that controlled their functions.

"Aim for the back of the head, Shockwave!" Titan called out. Suddenly a stream of electricity sprawled him backwards. Another sent him bouncing off of the ground. A steady stream of them kept him from moving.

"NATHAN!" he could hear Nightmare screaming from behind him. He tried to reach for one of his guns but he was paralyzed. A gust of wind came to his rescue and a cyclone trapped two of the bots in the air. Vortex began to collide the to bots together in a horrible tangle, busting up limbs and other parts. Titan was more than happy for the relief but he knew that unless the chips were destroyed, the Sentinels would only continue to come.

The wind stopped as streams of electricity bombarded Vortex, bringing him down and out of the sky. Nathan realized that the Sentinels were doing what they could to keep the mutants at a distance were they wouldn't be as much of a threat. He caught a glimpse of Shockwave and turned to watch. In an incredible display of power and control he sent two _booms_ at the feet of two Sentinels from in the middle of them. He followed up with another pair of _booms_ sending the bots flying in opposite directions. He stood before another one, _boom_-jumped over him and smashed his head by clapping his fists together with a mighty _boom_ between them. The headless bot fell to the ground in a heap.

"Behind you!" Titan warned. Just in time, Shockwave was able turn, jump and _boom_-kick the head clean off of another Sentinel.

_Not bad_, Titan beamed. As if an omen to tell him he'd spoken too soon a barrage of Sentinels surrounded Shockwave and beamed him with electricity. They could have killed him, but it was clear to Titan that, for whatever reason, the Sentinels were trying to capture him alive. Quick as his feet would carry him he came and busted one of the Sentinels in the back of the head with his fist. It freed Shockwave up a little bit, but not enough to let him move or defend himself yet.

"Nathan, help him!" Lifestream screamed from the sidelines. She took careful aim and fired a plasma round into the brain of one of the Sentinels. The ultra-heated, explosive round incinerated the bot's head. He wanted to keep helping Shockwave but he heard the sounds of bullets resounding in the night followed by a cry of agony and despair from Vortex.

He fell from the sky and hit the ground in a terrible thud. The attacking Sentinel closed in for a kill, raising the gun on its arm, aiming at Vortex. He sat helplessly, closing his eyes and bracing himself for impact, already bleeding and full of holes. Titan unholstered his twin pistols and fired as he ran. The rounds smashed into the Sentinel, distracting it from its task long enough for Vortex to conjure some wind. It was a weak gust, only able to make the Sentinel stumble. It was good enough; as Titan's magazines went empty he holstered the guns and unsheathed his knife. With all of his might he hurled the weapon at the Sentinel's head, which was now in close enough distance for him to hit. The blade penetrated the surface metal but did not go through. As the Sentinel was tugging the knife from its face Titan circled around in and smashed his fist into the back of its head and grabbed hold of the wires and circuits on the inside. He tugged them out and crushed them, bring the Sentinel to the ground.

He glanced over at Vortex, he was bleeded badly but looked like he'd taken most of the bullets in the legs and arms. He was going to ask if he could walk, but he could see that it was quite out of the question. It was chaos all over the place. More rounds were being fired at him and Vortex as he scooped him up and ran towards Lifestream who was firing plasma rounds into the evening sky with loud claps that sounded like thunder. Shockwave was sending out _booms_ trying to knock back the Sentinels from him which resulted in the entire front part of the mansion losing their windows. Running with teh _booms_ going off was pretty hard too. It made Titan stumble as he went along. He growled in pain as bullets tore through his side. He continued to run with all of his might and he sat Vortex down before Lifestream.

The sun was nearly down now and Nightmare looked as if she were ready for a fight.

"How many of those bombs do you have left?" she asked him. He tugged open the pouch and pulled out five bombs and showed them to her. She snatched them and he could only watch in awe at what happened. She sent out spectres one by one into the night, each one of them taking a single bomb with them. The spectres planted the bombs on the backs of the Sentinels' heads who were attacking Shockwave and then dicipated into nothing. She did in seconds what would've taken him minutes and technically didn't even have to move.

"Detonate them!" she yelled. He didn't hesitate to comply. The bombs exploded in a chain, sending five of attacking Sentinels to their knees. That was plenty enough relief for Shockwave to start wrecking havoc again. He began to smash some of them into pieces, trying to hit them in the head. He failed at some and succeeded at others.

"We can't let him have all the fun! Let's get em!" Vortex yelled, recovered from Lifestream's healing. The bullets that were once imbedded in his body now lay in piles laced with a little of Vortex's blood.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Titan readied himself for combat again. He felt two hands take his guns from his belt.

"You need these?" Nightmare asked.

"No. You'll need to load them first," he tossed her two spare magazines and took off back on the battle. He grabbed an unsuspecting Sentinel by the head and squeezed it with all of his might, flattening it like a pancake. There was some circuits and wires sticking out of the top of its head. Titan smashed them into pieces.

Nightmare began to Shadowport all over place, firing four or five rounds into the backs of Sentinels' heads, dropping them like flies. Lifestream continued to fire from a distance, aiming only for the bots far enough away so she wouldn't risk hurting someone. Before long only one Sentinel remained. It suddenly took off into the sky, trying to escape.

"Oh _hell_ no!" Vortex protested, rocketing into the sky after him. He made a cyclone, a powerful one, one so poweful it ripped all of the limbs, including the head off of the Sentinel and left only a spinning torso plummeting to the ground. The head, still intact rolled a few feet away from Nightmare. She looked really scary in her shadow form, holding two silvery, gleaming pistols. She emptied the rest of the rounds into the head, reducing it to scrap.

Titan looked around at the piles of twisted, marred and burnt metal that were once mutant-killing robots. They were no match for them. Titan was almost disappointed, but glad that no one was hurt or killed. He also knew that the next time they encountered Sentinels that it wouldn't be so easy. They constantly transmitted information about the enemies they fight. The learning super-computer would store and transmit that information to every Sentinel on the planet so that they would more efficiently fight those mutants.

_Another day_...

He looked to Lindsey. She had run into Caleb's arms and he held her close, whispering things in her ear. The sight drove Nathan mad. It wasn't anger so much as envy. He just wanted to be the one for her so badly. It was pretty clear what it was that her heart wanted. In the heat of the battle it was Caleb she had run to.

_Don't give up. She's worth fighting for_, he reminded himself. They still had not had the time to talk. Maybe...just maybe there was a chance. Until then he figured it was okay to call the others back to the mansion. He started inside, still longing for a love that was once his.


	36. Turning Tide

"Lindsey?" Caleb asked, knocking on her door as he opened to see if she was in. she was sitting on the edge of her bed, a box of tissues beside her, clutching her pillow. Her face was red and puffy from tears. She looked at him with a blank stare. Her stare evolved into a little bit of a scowl.

"Yeah?" she offered.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

_Dumb question_, he scolded himself inward the moment he thought it.

"Far from it," she admitted shaking her head, looking as if she would break any moment after that. Whenever she was like this, she had always sought Caleb out and let him be her crying shoulder. Now, she looked as if she were completely indifferent to him even being in the room. She wasn't open and talking, but just sitting, staring infinitely into the wall.

"Sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" he asked hopefully.

"Not yet."

"When are you going to be ready, Lin?" he pleaded.

"I don't know if I'll ever be ready."

"You can't keep making us wait like this," he insisted.

"What do you want me to do? Just draw a name out of a hat?" she demanded.

"I want you to do what's in your heart," he replied. He didn't mean to sound so cliché but he was telling her the truth.

"You want the honest truth, Caleb?"

"Of course."

"I can't choose between the two of you. I love you both. Nathan was my first love, we were gonna get married, but I thought he was dead all of this time. You were there for me when I needed you. You should me love when I had no one left. I fell in love with you too. I don't know who I'm supposed to be faithful to. Have I done Nathan wrong by moving on without _knowing_ he was gone? Have I done you wrong because I still love Nathan? How can I choose?" he watched her as she vented. He wanted to go and wrap his arm around her but he did not feel like the situation permitted him to do so.

"Lindsey, you haven't done anything wrong. It's not your fault at what happened; you didn't ask for any of this—none of did! But it did. Now, you have to make the choice. I can tell you right now that we both want to be with you, so that means it's up to you to settle this," he replied. A situation this delicate required blunt honesty, even if it hurt. Caleb didn't want to hurt Lindsey, but the pain was necessary for resolution.

"You think that I don't know that, Caleb? I've been going over the scenarios in my head since Nathan got here! If I pick you, I'll hurt him. If I pick him, I'll hurt you. I can't win."

"Stop worrying about hurting us! If you love him, just tell us how you feel! You're doing more damage by making us wait like this!" Caleb burst. She looked at him with disdain.

"Do you want me to pick him?" she asked, shocked.

"No. If you want to know _I_ want I'll tell you. I want to be with you, Lin. You're the best thing that's happened to me. I want to stay with you and see where we go. I don' know if we're _supposed_ to be together or not. I know that something like this is worth the risk."

"Worth the risk of hurting someone I love?"

"Yes."

"How can you say that?"

"That's how I feel. I've always been nothing but honest with you, Lindsey. This is how I feel. Believe it or not, I _do_ care how Nathan feels too. He's my friend and I don't want to see him hurt. At this point in my life, you mean so much more than he does. If I had to choose between the two of you I would pick you in a heartbeat."

"Yeah—he would do the same," she realized aloud.

"Of course he would. We're both in love with you Lindsey. We're both good men and will treat you right as long as you'll have us. I can't say that either one of us loves you more than the other, but I know that you have to love one of us more. You have to choose between us, Lin. Throw the consequences out the window for once and listen to what your heart is telling you. I only want to see you happy…even if I have to be hurt."

"I'm not gonna choose right now!" she protested.

"How much longer do you need?"

"As long as it takes!" she snapped.

"That's not fair to any of us, Lin. Do you love me?"

"What?"

"Answer the question. Ignore the variables and circumstances and just give me an answer. Do you love me?"

"Yes."

"I love you too. No matter what you decide, I will always love you," he stood before and put his hands on her shoulders, looking her square in the eyes. "There is nothing you could ever do to make me love you less." He wrapped her in his arms and she returned his embrace, sobbing heavily.

"I love you so much," she whispered. He stood and headed for the door. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to give you a little more time to think. I didn't come here to win you over, but to let you know how I feel," he narrowed his eyes, making sure she didn't get the wrong impression.

"I know," she smiled. It was the first he'd seen her smile since Nathan had arrived. He returned it with warmth in his soul.

"Let me know if you need anything," he added sincerely as he walked out.

"Caleb!" she stopped him. He turned around hopefully and looked at her.

"Yes?"

"If you see Nathan, could you tell him to come here, that I want to talk to him?" he fought the urge to wear the feeling in his gut on his face. He knew that she either wanted to tell Nathan that she wanted to be with Caleb or with him. Her final decision was about to be unveiled, and she wanted to tell Nathan first.

_Doesn't matter. If it's supposed to be it will happen. If not, you stay true to what you said_, he reminded himself.

"Yeah, I'll let him know," he walked out and headed out to find Nathan.

* * *

Nathan sat in the room that they'd given him, cleaning his guns and doing an inventory on the supplies that he had left. The battle with the Sentinels had left him pretty dry on grenades and ammo. His reflection on the battle left him awestruck at how powerful Lindsey had become.

_Nightmare…that's what they call her_.

It wasn't just Lindsey either. Caleb had demonstrated feats of power Nathan hadn't thought him capable of. He had done away with Sentinels as if they were tin cans. The X-Men had certainly given them some formidable training. Nathan's thoughts fell on Deadpool. Did his former instructor even know he was alive? Probably. Did he care? Maybe. One thing was for sure: if and when he and Deadpool met again, only one of them would be walking away alive.

There was a knock at his door.

"Who is it?"  
"It's me," the voice belong to Caleb.

"What do you want?"

"Lindsey wants to talk to you," he said. Nathan's ears perked up. Had he heard correctly? Had Lindsey chosen Caleb and now wanted to talk to Nathan to let him down easily? After all, it was Caleb's arms that she ran to when the battle was over. It was him that she went to for comfort and consolation. She had already chosen him over Nathan in that instance. He couldn't be sure; he'd have to go and find out.

"Okay. Thank you," he put his guns down on the desk and went into his bathroom to wash the grease off of his hands. He looked himself in the mirror. He was not the man that she was with so many months ago.

_So many? Has it really been so long?_ In all honesty, he felt as if he'd lived an entire lifetime without her during his time at Sheol, training under Deadpool. It was like the same for her, leaving her home town and coming to train as an X-Man. He'd been so hard on her at first, completely insensitive to the fact that she'd been through a lot too. He'd have to apologize for that. Right now, he just so curious as to what she had to say. He headed towards her room. Every hall and corridor made exceedingly more nervous than the moment before. He wasn't mentally prepared for any kind of answer. There was so much emotion tied up in the entire situation.

_Get a hold of yourself. You came here to get her back and that's what you're going to do. If you love her, you'll go for it, forgive, forget and move on_.

He knocked on her door, each thud pounding in his soul.

"Come in," he heard her welcome him softly through the door. She was sitting at her table by the window, the light enveloping her, giving her an ambient glow. Her red hair shone like fire in the rays of light. Her blue eyes sparkled like sapphires despite their redness. She looked like she'd tried to compose herself from crying. It was still obvious. He'd seen her cry before and knew what she did to hide it.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked. He felt dumb saying anything at all.

"Yeah," was all that she said, remaining stationary at the table. At last, she motioned to the table and then to edge of the bed, an invitation to sit down. He looked at her and she looked at him. He wanted to hold her so bad it hurt. He deliberately wore his heart on his sleeve. He wanted her to know exactly where she stood with him. He wanted her to know that he wanted her back.

"You talked to Caleb?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes I did. Did he say anything?"

"No—only that you wanted to talk to me," he replied.

"Good. I know that we haven't had too much time to talk since you got back. Things have been a little crazy lately," she admitted.

"Yeah, who knew that Sentinels were going to tear down your door?" he said, trying to lighten the mood at least an iota.

"That's not what I meant," she frowned.

_Smooth, Nathan…smooth_…

"I know I was—I'll just let you talk," he stopped himself from digging a bigger hole.

Without words she came over to him and gave him a huge hug. She held him close and leaned her head against his shoulder. He hugged her back, held her so close his nostrils were filled with the sweet, flowery aroma of her hair. His heart began to flutter in his chest as his whole body radiated with warmth. She let go and took a step back.

"I just wanted to say that I am so glad that you're alive. You don't know how hard it was to live thinking that you were gone," she bit her lip.

"They told me that they had you tortured and executed—I think I have a pretty good idea," he said, fighting the urge to shudder from the recollection of bad memories. She smiled at him the sweetest smile he'd ever seen.

"I don't know how to say this, or even what to say, Nathan," she shook her head, dumbfounded by how honest she was trying to be. "I need to know where you stand."

"Where I stand?"

"As far as we are concerned," she specified.

"Lindsey, I know that I overreacted when I found out that you and Caleb were together. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have flown off the handle like that."

"It's okay. This is a lot for all of us to take in at once. It's hard to keep from reacting out of impulse," she looked at him, waiting for him to answer the rest of the question.

"Lindsey, I still love you. I always have loved you and I always will. You are the most important person in my life. It was the thought that there was a possibility that I would see you again that kept me going when I was in Sheol. I still want to be with you. Even if we don't get to pick up where we left off…if we have to start over from the beginning, I'd do that."

"What about Caleb?"

"This isn't about Caleb; this is about us," he replied, trying to mask his bitterness.

"I love him," she stated, plain as day and with no reserve. The words hit him like an arrow to the heart. He swallowed hard and looked at her.

"Do you?" he asked.

"I do. He has been more than a friend to me, Nathan. I wouldn't even be here—be _alive_—if it weren't for him. He was all I had for months and I fell in love with him. At first, I kept telling myself that it wouldn't have happened if I had thought he were alive. The more I think about it, it wouldn't matter if I knew you were in Sheol or not. My feelings for Caleb are real; he's not some next-best-thing that I settled for because what I really wanted was gone," Lindsey's monologue began to fire up Nathan's emotions all over again. He kept them in check, where they belonged.

"Are you sure? Are you just saying that because you feel guilty?"

"Nathan, I still love you. I'll always love you—but I'm with Caleb now and I need to stay faithful to the commitment that I'm in right now," she fidgeted nervously as if it were the hardest thing that she had ever had to say.

"You can really say that you love both of us? And that your commitment to Caleb is more important that your commitments to me?" he demanded. She sighed, beaten.

"Nathan, you're the love of my life; we both know that…"

"Then why can't we be together?"

"Maybe we will," she offered.

"What are you talking about?" he threw his hands up, confused by what she was saying.

"I need to stay with Caleb, that's the right thing to do. I don't know for sure if we're going to be together forever or not. If it doesn't work out between he and I maybe we…"

"Don't even say that, Lindsey. Listen to yourself for a second! I'm not going to wait around for you to see if things work out. This is my life you're making a choice on too!"

"It's all of our lives," she protested.

"Exactly my point! If you want to be with Caleb, fine. Be with Caleb. I'll be devastated but I'll respect your decision and move on. If you want to be with me, be with me. Why wouldn't you pick what you really want?"

"What about what's right?" she asked.

"When it comes to love, it's not always about what's right and what's wrong. What do you want?"

She paused and thought for a second, as if she were struggling to say out loud what was going on in her heart. Tears began to well up in her eyes and her lip began to quiver.

"I want you," she admitted with sobs.

"Then you need to tell Caleb that," he shook his head.

"Am I just supposed to drop everything that we have like a box of rocks?"

"Yes."

"Pick up where I left off with you?"

"Yes."

"Pretend that he and I never even happened?" she was near hysterical.

"No. I don't want you to forget everything that the two of you have been through. I'm not even going to say that you two getting together was a bad thing."

"He's going to be so hurt," she realized.

"He's prepared for that," he assured.

"How do you know?"

"I know that I have been preparing for the worst as far as I'm concerned. He'd be a fool to not even consider the possibility that you might pick me," he pointed out.

"I want to be with you, but I still want him to be a part of my life, Nate."

"He may not be okay with that, Lin."

"What about you?"

"If you say I'm yours, I'm yours. You can be friends with whoever you want, whether you used to date him or not. I care about Caleb too. I still want to be his friend. I hope that it works out that way, but you need to prepare for him to not take it this well," he tried to keep things as real as possible. He knew that Lindsey appreciated it, but he knew that she didn't always deal with it so well.

"I don't want to have to hurt him or give him up," she admitted.

"You may not have a choice, Lin. There are consequences no matter what you decide. That's why it's so important that you do what you want for _you_. Both of us only want to see you happy," he assured.

They stood facing each other, gazing longingly into each others' eyes. It had been so long since they had been this close to each other. He wanted to hold her so bad he couldn't stand it any longer. He leaned in and kissed her on the mouth without warning. She kissed him back and then pushed him away for a second.

"Wait. I want to tell Caleb before we get back into this," she nodded.

"Okay. That's fair," he decided. There was no use in causing Caleb more pain than necessary. "You want me to be there when you tell him?"

"No, I can tell him," she said. He went to leave for the door, giving her time to do whatever she needed to do. "Nathan…"

"Yeah?" he turned, and waited for what she had to say. She came over to him and kissed him passionately. He returned the gesture. At last, he had been reunited with his long-lost love. Everything that he had fought for, everything that he had sacrificed was worth it now. He held her close, sure that he would never let her go again.

* * *

Just outside the door Caleb caught a glimpse of what was going on through the opening in the door. His heart broke into a thousand pieces. He saw Lindsey and Nathan locked by the lips, very much in love. He was angry, he wanted to storm down the door and bust some things up. He was hurt; he wanted to go in his room and cry. He was confused. He was sure that Lindsey was going to pick him over Nathan. He had been wrong before but he was so sure that they were going to be together. He walked away. He didn't want to talk or cry or shout or break something. He was just going to walk and think.

He walked out the front door, past the piles of scrap metal that was once mutant-killing Sentinels. He walked out of the gate, down the drive and out to the road. He didn't think about anything. He didn't react. There was nothing in him. It was as if a part of him had been completely removed, as if it were no longer there. He tried to think of Lindsey, and it was like being stabbed with a red-hot poker in the chest. It was too painful to think of what was and what was going to be. He just needed to get away for a while—away from Lindsey, away from Nathan, away from the mansion, away from the X-Men.

He wasn't sure how many hours he had been walking. He knew that his cell phone would go off periodically but he would silence it. Finally, he turned it off determined not to talk to anyone. He just needed to be somewhere else, away from everything he knew. He could run away again.

_You really want to go back to that life? You think that you could make it on your own?_ He knew the answers to his questions deep down inside of him. He had become so dependant upon the X-Men. They fed him, clothed him, trained him to control his powers to live a normal life. They had even given him a chance to finish his education and get his diploma. Did he really need them anymore? Did he need Lindsey? If he would have asked himself that question a few days ago, he would have answered yes. Now, he wasn't so sure.

Even with the war going on, was it not possible for him to lead the life of his choice? Maybe this was all supposed to happen so that he would get his much-needed wakeup call.

"I think you're absolutely right, Shockwave," said an all too familiar voice. Caleb spun to find the source of the voice. He was walking down an alley and there was no one else around.

"Right here," said the voice again. He turned a corner and saw Mindflare standing all alone next to some boxes. He was dressed in his usual all-black attire. His eyes glared at Caleb under thick brows. Caleb didn't hesitate to gather some energy to summon a boom.

"There will be no need for that, I assure you. I'm not here to fight," he smiled.

"No, but I'm sure the MCA are right around the corner waiting to take me in," Caleb snapped.

"I'm all alone, I assure you. I'm at your mercy," he held his hands up.

"Yeah right," Caleb let the energy in his hands vibrate in his hands, ready to be unleashed with the smallest exertion.

"We can have a knock-down-drag-out right here if you want to, or we can just talk," Mindflare offered. Caleb was at least a little apprehensive. This guy was bad news, Caleb knew. For all he knew, he was already rearranging his mind so that he would not attack him. Despite his better judgment to swing first and ask questions later, Caleb let the energy go and held his hands up.

"You've got sixty seconds. I'm all ears."

"Very well, I'll make this as brief as I know how. As you no doubt have gathered, I was working with the MCA to have you captured."

"Was?"

"Correct. I am no longer interested in handing you over to them."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Honestly, I haven't given you reason to believe me. Allow me to continue to explain myself. The MCA made a deal with me to hand them over a number of powerful mutants in exchange for diplomatic immunity with them and their laws."

"How'd that work out for you?" Caleb snapped.

"Not well as you can imagine. I made a mistake. You can rest assured that I have corrected the error of my ways. The Brotherhood has freed all of the mutants that we had captured and put into the custody of the MCA. They had no interest in doing anything but locking me and The Brotherhood away."

"Are you surprised?"

"I shouldn't have been. I really thought that I had made a connection that could help turn this war around for us. I've been wrong before and I'm not too prideful to admit when I've made a mistake."

"Are you? What about when you used Cerebro to get us into the mess that we're into now?"

"If I would not have been stopped, our problem would've been solved already. My intentional mission was never accomplished."

"Your intentional mission was going to cost thousands of innocent people their lives!"

"Millions."

"You're sick," Caleb shot back, disgusted.

"Clearly, our only difference is our definition of innocence," Mindflare replied.

"I'm not like you, Mindflare. I wouldn't intentionally take innocent peoples' lives!"

"Ah but you have," he sneered. "You think I don't know that you caused the earthquake?"

"You're right. My actions have cost people their lives. I never wanted that for them. You are intentionally ending the lives of others to further you own twisted ambitions…there is a difference," Caleb defended.

"It's not just the earthquake. What about the MCA investigator you killed before the earthquake? What about the lives that you've take every time you go into battle alongside your righteous X-Men friends? You think that no one was killed when you destroyed Sheol?"

"You can try to throw my dirt up in my face all you want to and it won't matter. I know what I've done and what I haven't. I know why I did the things I did. You and I are not alike. I value my life and the life of others."

"If that's the way you feel…"

"It is."

"How would like to have the opportunity to do something to change the world—to turn the tide in our favor?" Mindflare asked. Caleb didn't try to hide his disgust in response.

"Does it involve killing people?"

"Things of this magnitude always require some sacrifices, Shockwave."

"Human life isn't something that you can just sacrifice!"

"Our enemies would tend to agree—yet they have no problem ending mutant life. Spending their time either trying to come up with some way to _cure_ our _disease_ or to eradicate us from the planet as if we were nothing more than vermin."

"And people like you make them right to hate and fear mutants," Caleb interjected.

"I am a revolutionist," he defended with pride.

"You're a sociopath and a terrorist," Caleb shot back.

"I'm sorry you feel that way. No doubt the X-Men have brainwashed you into this close-mindedness."

"The X-Men have nothing to do with this. In case you forgot, I told you 'no' before they came along."

"So now you follow their every whim without asking yourself if it is what is right for you?" he demanded in disbelief.

"I don't 'follow their every whim!' I'm sure you already know that though, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to find me," Caleb realized that every moment he was there gave Mindflare more of an opportunity to get into his mind.

"I did detect your presence because I've been waiting for an opportunity to talk to you. I assure you your mind is intact, thought I'm sure you'll have your cousin or the Phoenix check it out for you," he smugly replied. The Phoenix: Caleb had heard Jean referred to by that name before, thought he knew no reason or story behind it. He'd have to ask her, until then, he was done speaking to Mindflare.

"Would you like to know how things turned out for your brother?" He struck a nerve. While Caleb had no desire to deal with Mindflare, he did want to get in touch with Garrett again.

_You can't make a deal with the devil without getting burned_, he reminded himself.

"If Garrett wants to see me, he'll come and see me. I don't need you to arrange a meeting," he snapped viciously.

"Very well. You didn't get a chance to hear about what I have to offer you," he sneered.

"I think I've made it clear enough that I'm not interested."

"That's a shame. Someone as powerful as you with so much potential should not be kept on such a short leash," Mindflare taunted. Caleb didn't respond. It wasn't worth his time. "It's too bad you can't use your powers to benefit the cause."

"What cause?" he rhetorically demanded.

"To have a world where mutants can live peaceably, without persecution and prejudice. To punish mankind for what they've done to us."

"You're so blinded by hate you don't realize that you make yourself worse than them! People are people, whether they are human or mutant or whatever. When you separate us you become the bigot and you make them right for everything they say against us."

"These are the ideals of the X-Men being pushed upon you, Shockwave. Think about it; we are different. It is a difference that goes beyond language, skin color, creed, religion, what have you. We are a different specie than them."

"You mean a better species right?"

"Yes, we are Homo Superior, the next link in mankind's evolutionary chain. We are the future…unless they succeed in killing us all; eventually this world will be inhabited entirely by mutants. They are the ones who refuse to change."

"And you are playing God by deciding who gets to live and die—whose lives are worth sacrificing and whose are worth keeping. Our standards of the value of life are different so we will never agree. I'm not interested in hearing what you have to say, Mindflare. This conversation is over," he turned to walk away, nearly infuriated at Mindflare. It was hard not to lash out at him but he knew it'd be a losing battle and he'd make himself just as bad as him.

"Shockwave! One thing before you go," Mindflare pleaded. His tone had changed; there was genuine concern in his voice—a rare thing for someone as sadistic as Mindflare. As tempted as he was to keep walking something compelled him to stay and listen.

"What?"

"The MCA are going to go to your family searching for you. They are going to use them as bait to get to you," his words made Caleb's heart sink. "Don't fall for it; they will do anything to get their hands on you."

"Why me? What's so important about me?" he demanded.

"Both sides are going to do whatever they can to get you. You have the power to end the war for either side."

"How?"

"That's precisely what I want to talk to you about…"

"Save your breath. Thanks for the tip but I'm not joining up with your 'cause.' I have to warn my family."

"No, the MCA will expect you to go to them. It's just the opportunity they need to get their hands on you. You'll only bring pain on yourself if you try to intervene."

"I can't leave them! I don't know why I'm still talking to you!" Caleb ran from the alley and started back towards the mansion. He'd never make it in time running. He used his powers to make a wave to hover. Propelling himself at speeds he'd never dared, even in battle, he raced towards the mansion as fast as he could go.


	37. Of Loss And Hope

"You haven't seen him?" Lindsey asked, trying not to wear her emotions on her sleeve.

"Not since he went to talk to you again," Markas replied. Jake and Isaac had begun to peek through the door at her, their interests sparked by the conversation.

"If you see him or hear from him, could you tell him that I'm looking for him?" she pleaded.

"Uh yeah…is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah…just tell him I'm looking for him?" she pleaded. The search had been relentless. There only one explanation as to what had happened: Caleb had somehow known what decision that she had made and had left. Ironically, that was the best scenario that she was willing to entertain. The idea of him in any kind of mortal danger racked her emotions with pain. It sent a feeling of vicious nausea to her stomach. The idea of losing him was incomprehensible. Though Nathan was by her side every step of the way, he somehow gave no comfort to her current state of emergency.

She made her way into the foyer. Nathan was standing there waiting for her. They had searched the entire mansion from subbasement up, looking for Caleb to no avail.

"Any luck?" she asked hopefully, yet with despair.

"Sorry," Nathan replied a little too nonchalantly. Now was not the time to accuse Nathan of not caring, though she feared that now that he had what _he_ wanted, Caleb was no longer a concern. She remembered a day when she would have never questioned his intentions…his integrity. Were those days gone now? Could things every _really_ be the same. She did not think so. It was not realistic. In reality, fairy tale happily-ever-afters did not exist.

"We have to find him," she stated, thinking aloud. He shrugged—_shrugged_. She could not handle that gesture right then. She gave him a scowl without meaning to.

"What?" he asked defensively. "All we can do now is wait until he come back."

"What if he doesn't come back, Nathan? What if he's run away again?"

"He'll come around when he's ready," he shrugged, uncaringly again. She gritted her teeth. This was a nightmare. She knew that no matter what she did, she was going to have to lose one of the men she cared about the most.

_Who ever knew following your heart would be so hard_?

At that moment the doubled doors leading into the foyer from outside burst open and Caleb came barreling through the halls. He looked up at her for a split second and their eyes met. That single gaze was worth more than a thousand words. His eyes told her love, sorrow and loss. They told her that he would always have a place for her in his heart and he would always be there for her.

_If only things like that could go unsaid_…

"Caleb! Where have you been? I've been so worried," Lindsey took a deep breath of relief to see that he was safe.

"Not right now, Lin," Caleb said, breaking their eye contact and heading for the room underneath them.

"Wait! We need to talk!" she protested. No response. She was tired of this. Any other time under any other circumstances he had no problem saying exactly how he felt and what he thought. Now, she was being pushed on the sidelines of his life.

_Is he punishing me_?

She shadowported to the floor beneath her to catch up with him. He was already getting on the elevator. She grabbed his arm in an attempt to stop him long enough to get a few words from him. He whirled around and gave her an angry snarl.

"Let go! I can't stay here!"

"We need to talk!" she demanded. He jerked his arm away and hit the button for the subbasement. She was not about to let him get away. She stepped into the elevator as it was closing, leaving Nathan behind.

"Caleb, what is going on?"

"Look I know about you and Nathan. That's fine. I'm hurt but I'll get over it. Right now I have something more important to deal with," he snapped.

"More important than this?"

"If it was so important to you how could you just throw it away?" he threw his hands up, his eyes wet and puffy from emotion oozing out of him.

"You were the one who told me to make a decision, Caleb."

"And this is what you want?"  
"I want to be with Nathan," she admitted a little too harshly.

"Well I hope that the two of you have a really happy life together," he rolled his eyes and stepped out as the elevator opened.

"Caleb that is not fair! I still want you to be a part of my life; I'm not cutting you out."

"Lindsey I'm not ready for that right now," he was pumping for speed towards the hangar. It just clicked in her mind that he was leaving again to go somewhere. "Maybe some day, but right now I just need my space."

"Where are you going?" she asked realizing that he was getting one of the jets ready. He did not answer. "Caleb?"

"I have some things to take of at home. It just came up," he said, deliberately leaving out as many details as he could.

"What's happened?"

"The MCA, for whatever reason are trying to get a hold of me so that they can use me against other mutants in the war. They can't get to me here so they're going after my family to lure me out," he said, hitting the controls to open the hatch.

"How do you know this?" she asked. He stopped, for the first time since he'd walked into the door. He paused for a second and looked her in the eye.

"Mindflare told me."

"Mindflare! You're going to rush home and out of safety on a tip you got from _Mindflare_? Are you crazy? He's probably the one trying to get you away from here."

"I was this close to him, Lin. If he wanted me he could've had me. My family's in danger and I have to go help them.

"I'm coming with you."

"What? No, it's going to be dangerous!"

"All the more reason why you're going to need my help. Look, I don't want to see anything happen to your family. I know what it's like to lose someone because my own actions. Let me help you; we can rescue them together," she put a hand on his shoulder. It looked as if he was going to protest a little more but he paused and clicked his tongue.

"Fine. First let's get some gear; I'll get the field equipment, you get our uniforms," he brightened. She turned and went down the entrance of the jet and onto the hangar. A sudden burst of unknown energy lifted her off of her feet and sent her flying through the air. She skittered across the floor, mostly unharmed but bruising her knees and elbows a bit. She landed hard on her front and the wind was knocked out of her. She could see little circle-stars floating around in her vision. It didn't take her long to figure out what had happened, Caleb had let out one of his smaller _booms_ to knock her away so that he could leave without her.

_Oh no you don't!_

She was up on her feet, still dizzy from her little fall but ready to shadowport back into the jet. A sudden blast of pain racked her eyes, head and even skin. All of the hangar lights came on in a simultaneous flash. She tried to adjust but could hear the roar of jet engines fire up. Before she knew it, Caleb had blasted out of the hangar and was gone into the night. There was no catching him now.

_What is he doing?_

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Nathan suddenly rushed to her side. She reached for the controls and turned off all of the bright lights, leaving only enough so that they could see where they were going.

"I'm fine. Caleb's family is in danger and he's taking off home to help them. He _insisted_ that he go alone," she spat. She couldn't believe he had resorted to using his powers against her. She knew that he meant her no serious harm but it was something that she never saw him capable of.

_You learn new things everyday_…she thought, realizing more and more that she had made the right decision.

"When did all this happen?" Nathan asked, confused. He was referring to Caleb's family.

"During his little Houdini act he ran into Mindflare, leader of the Brotherhood. _He_ told Caleb that his family was in danger and now he's on a wild goose chase. If he's not careful, he's going to walk right into a trap."

"We have to help him," Nathan stated the obvious.

"Come on. I'll ready the jet, you get our gear," she said.

"You know how to fly? Cause I sure don't," he raised his eyebrows.

"Don't need to know how. Typo installed a state-of-the-art autopilot system that will let _anyone_ fly," she said. "Hurry, we gotta go."

"What's going on?" Lindsey shot her head to the left and saw Lifestream standing there. Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She was dressed head-to-toe in gray sweats; she looked as if she was just done working out.

"Caleb's in trouble and we're going to help him."

"What kind of trouble? Should we talk to Cyclops?"

"By the time he plans out a mission it may already be too late," Lindsey said grimly. She wasn't much for speaking against or defying leadership but her friend was in trouble and there was no room for protocol.

"Okay…I'm coming too," she stated firmly—an odd thing for her. She was normally so shy and withheld.

"Are you sure?"

"I care about Caleb too," she protested almost angrily. "Besides, if someone gets hurt I can take care of them."

She had a point that was hard to argue with. Lindsey didn't see any reason why she shouldn't come.

"Great. Get into your uniform; Nathan is getting our gear."

"Titan?"

"Nathan," she restated, hoping that she wouldn't have to explain the whole situation to her.

"Oh _him_," there was a long and awkward pause. Lindsey knew that Lifestream had long had a crush on Caleb. He was totally oblivious to it too. He was always so friendly and not a bit flirtatious with all the girls, he could not seem to tell the difference between farce and genuine interest. It had never bothered Lindsey; she was not a jealous person. Caleb was a little too sanguine for his own good sometimes.

_Enough! He's in danger; focus on the task at hand!_

Before long Lifestream and Nathan had returned and it was time to leave. Lindsey did the honors of punching in the coordinates of where they wanted to go as they waited for the jet to taxi them to the Midwest. With as fast as it would take them, they'd be there in well under an hour.

* * *

Caleb was closing in on his hometown; it had been song long, it seemed since he had last seen the Midwest. Illinois have never seemed so ominous as he flew towards to his father's house. He looked down and saw that there were cars with orange siren lights, MCA patrol cars. He could also see the tracers from the automatic rifle fire firing into his house. There was return fire going back, taking down one MCA agent at a time.

_Who?_

He couldn't imagine who would be returning fire to the MCA; his father didn't own any guns nor did he have any reason to begin firing on governing authorities…not that Caleb minded at this point. He was about to seriously lay waste to them. He opened the hatch to the jet, wind whipping all over the place. On his wrist he fastened the remote computer that commanded the jet. He looked down and made sure that he was squarely above the cars. Without thought or reserve he jumped, which was an unusual thing for him to do. He was terrified of heights. With the thought of his family in jeopardy nothing else seemed to matter. All inhibitions and reserves went right out the window.

He descended upon them like a calamity from the skies, ready to rain destruction and terror on those who would threaten what he held dear. He used his waves to slow his fall and came to the ground in the middle of the cars, MCA agents all around him. They were hiding behind their cars to keep from being hit by the return fire. He looked up for a split second to see who it was defending his house for him and a smile crossed his face.

Garrett was there, wielding twin pistols against a small platoon of MCA's elite. He would not have to fight alone for long. Caleb quickly gathered as much energy as he had ever mustered. He knew that the result wouldn't be pretty and he was glad. He split the energy to the right and left poles of his body and held his hands out. He unleashed two ridiculously strong _booms_ and, as he had hoped, the result was catastrophic. The pavement beneath him began to crumble and fly away. The cars smashed like tin cans and the _booms_ were powerful enough to break open the skin of the MCA agents. Though it was instantaneous, it all seemed to happen in slow motion. As the debris began to clump together, men were pinned between cars and each other. The wreckage went on for a quarter mile on each side, tearing down telephone poles and destroying any cars parked on either side of the road.

He was terribly weakened after such a feat. He knew better than to attempt a feat that required so much energy. At least the job was over and done with. Garrett came down to what was left of the sidewalk to join him.

"I see you made it out of the bank okay," Caleb observed with a sneer. He and Garrett had always had something of a love-hate relationship.

"You look a little disappointed," he chuckled.

"How did you know about the MCA coming after me?" Caleb demanded, changing the lighthearted tone of the conversation.

"Little tip from Mindflare, actually. Once he paid me what he owed me he gave me a little intel on the MCA coming after the parents," Garrett admitted.

"Same here. Do you know why they're after me?"

"I don't know details. I'm sure they want you for your power. They also mentioned something called Project Catalyst. I don't know what any of that means but I can find it out for you."

"How will I get in touch with you?"

"You won't; I'll get in touch with you," Garrett insisted. There was no point in arguing with him. He was not staring at the punk kid little brother that he had grown up with. He was an assassin now—_the_ assassin. He was legendary among the mutant and human circles. He was clearly trained in combat and espionage. If he wanted to disappear he could.

The sound and the wind created from helicopter blades interrupted their brotherly moment together. It was black and unmarked, but it was not hard to figure that it belonged to the MCA. There missile launchers on either side of the chopper. Two missiles flew without warning. Caleb was not fast enough, nor were his reflexes. Garrett bolted off of the ground like black lightning, unsheathing his sword and twirling like an acrobat as he flew. He used his sword to parry one of the missiles into the air, it exploded harmlessly above the houses. The shockwave was massive from it, shattering the windows of their house and of those nearby.

With the second missile he was not so fortunate. He slashed maliciously at the missile trying to divert its path but to know avail. Caleb tried to react but there was no time. His house exploded in a mass of wood, shingles, siding and fire. His power kicked in involuntarily to protect him from injury but it did not keep him from being thrown around like a rag doll. When he finally came to a halt, he had smashed through his neighbors fence and landed in their pool. Smoldering wood and ash rained from the sky. He could not get out of the pool fast enough. He _boom_-jumped out of the pool breaking the foundation underneath and sending water misting into the air like a geyser.

He landed and fell to his knees, overcome with anger and loss. There was only fiery remains of what was once his father's home. There was no possibility of survival if they were inside, even in the basement. Both his father's truck and his stepmom's car were parked in the driveway. He screamed with fury and let out a radial _boom_ out of frustration. It did damage like the ones before had, tearing through his neighbor's yard and house, tearing down trees in front of him. With as close as Garrett was to the house when it exploded, it was doubtful that he had survived either.

Caleb began to gather energy to himself, more than he had ever tried before. Even when he thought his body could contain no more, he continued to reach inside of him for the energy to make another _boom_. Something was different this time. He was also taking energy from _around_ him as well. He saw grass and dirt disintegrate from underneath him. The water that once soaked his clothes evaporated into nothing. Soon his vision began to change. He could see everything—_everything_. It was invigorating. While he did not understand how, he could feel everything as well. Everything became a crimson hue. He could see every plant, the cars, the helicopter in the air the houses around him and even the particles in the air—_everything_. He could feel the distance between him and the helicopter and knew exactly how much energy he would need to put out in order to _boom_-jump from where he was to the helicopter.

Wasting no time he launched himself in an arc towards the helicopter and smashed into the windshield. He ignored the wind pulling at him and just looked into the faces of his father's killers. He couldn't see details. He could see every fiber of their being however, both their clothes, skin, organs and the seats beneath them. He could still faintly see the street and neighborhood through the chopper. Without reserve he unleashed all of the energy in wave into the cockpit of the chopper. To his bewilderment, particles began to wisp away into nothing. There was no other way to explain it. The particles of the chopper and the men flying it began to break into pieces and become nothing. He knew of no better way to describe it.

The wave began to do the same thing to the fuel in the tank of the chopper and the blades on the tail of it. He could feel the chopper descending towards the ground so he stopped the wave and back-flipped away from it, using another wave to bring him down slowly to the ground. He fell only a little slower than the chopper. Soon his vision returned to normal and the excess energy went into his reservoir for later use. He was better than one hundred percent. Any fatigued felt from using his power before was negated. He had never felt more alive.

He looked at the chopper in horror. It looked as if some sort of eroding acid had eaten away at the chopper and the pilots. Neither had completely faded away and one's chest lay open, exposing all of his organs, including lungs still trying to breath and a heart fluttering to beat. Blood gurgled out of the man as he twitched and died. The other man had no face whatever. Half of his skull and brain was gone. Fluid and blood erupted out like a geyser.

Caleb could not help himself. He had never seen anything so gruesome in all of his life. He turned away and threw up his lunch. He breathed heavily and wiped the gummy tears from his eyes. He had certainly meant to kill the helicopter pilots but not like that. He would not have done it like that if he knew that the results would have been so grisly.

He felt a hand on his shouldered and he whipped around in a stupor, ready to fight.

"Whoa! It's just me. What did you do?"

"I don't know," he spat. He looked over at the house that he and Garrett had grown up in. "We should get the bodies."

"It's no use. There won't be anything left to bury by the time the flames die down," he scrunched his face when he spoke, the words escaping his mouth nonchalantly. Caleb was stuck by how emotionlessly he said it but the more that he thought about it, he was not so surprised.

"I guess there's nothing that we can do."

"They're probably at your mom's house, Caleb," he pointed out.

"And your dad's," Caleb added.

"I don't know if helping them is the smartest thing."

"I can't do nothing," Caleb admitted.

"Me neither. Let's split. We're both capable enough of handling the MCA on our own. We'll cover more ground that way. If we hurry, we might be able to save them," Garrett said hopefully. That was the only thing that Caleb could hold onto now. He wanted to take time to mourn his dad and stepmother but if he did that now, there would be no chance for his mother and stepfather.

"Okay. Until next time, bro," Caleb said, extending his hand. To his surprise, Garrett grabbed him and embraced him. It had been a long time since he and his brother had even seen each other. He welcomed it, awkward as it was. It was likely that soon, Garrett would be the only family that Caleb had left. They would no doubt find all of his other brothers and sisters, maybe even some of his friends to hurt him with.

"Later, bro," Garrett said bolting from the ground onto the roof before them. He watched as his brother jumped from roof to roof soundlessly and effortlessly. Caleb wasted no more time in calling the jet back to pick him up. When it was close enough to the ground, he _boom_-jumped through the hatch, closed it and began to input the coordinates for his mothers house, only two cities from where his father's house once stood. He wiped the tears from his cheek and stifled the emotions of hurt and rage deep within him as the jet carried him on, not knowing what kind of danger, peril or loss awaited him at his mother's house.

* * *

Lindsey looked down on the smoking remains that was once Caleb's house. She turned away, feeling memories of the loss of her aunt and grandmother well up within her. It had been such a long time. Caleb was likely to do something rash and stupid out of anger once he moved on to go to his mom's house. As she looked down, she saw a wrecked helicopter and a massive lump of wreckage that was once MCA jeeps and agents on polar opposite sides of street. No doubt, it was Caleb's handwork.

_We have to hurry_…

"He's not here. Set the coordinates for his mom's house. Maybe we're not too late," Lindsey said, being hopeful for Caleb's sake.

She could feel feelings of hatred and rage welling up inside of her for the Brotherhood and the MCA. She knew, somehow, though she had no way of proving anything that Mindflare was somehow responsible for all of this. He was just the manipulative kind to do something like that.

The jet bolted across the sky and in mere minutes they were at his mom's house. There was chaos below them. The trees, the fence the street looked as if it had undergone a massive earthquake. There was no safe place to land near his house. She could see him through the gigantic window in the front of his house, broken and bloody, collapse on the floor.

"He's hurt!" she wailed desperately. She looked frantically for a place to land. She feared the worst and that they would be too late to save him.


	38. Sacrifice

"Mr. Ben-Joseph, it seems you have a slight amount of explaining to do," Jean said calmly, looking at the mutant before them.

"Actually, I owe you no explanation at all. However, you managed to get through the holographic and psychic defenses and you see me for what I am," his voice was deep and peaceful, like grandfather's.

"You liar! You lied to me! All this time!" Terra was in a complete frenzy. She could not even bring herself to say anything else.

"Be quiet, Terra," she did not look happy but obeyed without too much hesitation. "My real name is of little consequence. You may call me Prophet, for that is the only name that has any meaning to my identity. The real Ben-Joseph and I are partners in running the Remnant. He is not actually a mutant but his children are. He is appealing on our behalf to the powers-that-be, hoping to attain some sort of relief from the unrelenting persecution we have recieved over the years.

"Because of my reputation as a fraud and less-than-orthodox appearance, I have been shunned and ridiculed by the Israeli people. However, I will do anything in my power to save them. I act as Ben-Joseph's double while he is away and as his advisor while he is here. So, I apologize for the deceit, but I hope that you can come to understand my position and the reason we have to hold it at such high security. Now, if you don't mind, I would thoroughly like it if you would restore my holographic representation of Ben-Joseph just in case someone decides to disturb us."

_Go ahead and do it, Typo_, Jean thought-spoke to him. He obeyed and the tiny little mutant soon appeared to be Ezra Ben-Joseph once again.

"It is clear to me that you are as powerful as your reputation lets on, Dr. Summers. Or should I call you The Phoenix?" he raised his eyebrows as he spoke.

"I haven't gone by that name for quite some time, Prophet," she replied coldly.

"But you will again...someday," he said with a tone of certainty in his voice.

"I doubt that seriously," she had to fight to keep from rolling her eyes.

"I assure you that you will. I have seen it. I say this in mere fact, without ego, that I am the most powerful pre-cog, alive and my prophesies are never wrong. I foresaw you coming here to save us long ago, probably even before you had heard of The Remnant."

"I have the Phoenix locked away, where it belongs," Jean could not believe she was having this conversation with a total stranger. She did not like to mention the ordeal with the Phoenix to Scott, her own husband. Let alone be told that she was going to be the Phoenix again one day.

"The Phoenix is who you are, Jean. You cannot run from it forever. The Phoenix is your destiny," he spoke with such firmness and certainty that he almost made Jean believe it for a little while.

"Maybe one day," she mused, "but that day is neither her nor now."

"This is true," he said and shifted in his chair clearly ready to speak about something else. "Why don't we have a look at those weapons?"

* * *

Shockwave descended from the jet like a hawk upon its prey, precise and poised for the kill. The MCA had clustered like bees around his mother's house. There was no sight of her or his stepfather so there was still hope. He conjured a wave beneath him to slow his fall. The agents must have suddenly caught sight of him because they were now directing their fire towards him. He saw the bright yellow tracers from the gun work their way closer and closer to him until...

A bullet tore through his leg, entering into the back of his thigh and out the front of it. Blood spurted in his face and in his eyes. Another bullet smashed into his shoulder sending him in a spiral. This was more than enough to distract him from his power. He continued to fall to the ground. He had only precious seconds to react. He summoned a powerful, semi-spherical boom to create a small crater is his front yard. He waited until he was almost level with the ground before he started slowing down again. He still hit the compacted mud with a dull _thwap_, knocking the breath from his lungs and causes fuzzy stars to cloud his vision.

He took a small moment to assess his wounds. The bullet he had taken to the ribs wasn't bad at all. The one that had hit him in the right shoulder limited his mobility and range of motion, but nothing that he could not work around. The wound in his leg was quite another matter. Blood was spurting out in pulses. Surely, it had severed a major vein or artery. He would have to act fast.

_Don't stop! Get up and do what needs to be done_.

He boom-jumped at an arc towards his attackers, another bullet bouncing off of his ribs as he flew through the air. There were a lot of them and he knew that he would have to conserve his energy. He nearly landed on top of a group of them as he let out another semi-spherical boom centered around his body. Their limp bodies slammed into their jeeps with enough force to knock them off of their feet. There were more of them on the other side of the vehicle and were making their way around. Shockwave dropped to his belly and let a focused boom erupt from his hand into the ankle of an unknowing MCA agent. He watch the bones in his ankle and foot shatter like glass. The man fell to the ground in agony. Putting him out of his misery Shockwave released a boom into his face.

He rolled underneath the jeep and look towards the tail of it. More agents were making their way around to get a shot at him. He let out an arc wave and knocked them all to the ground as well. They didn't have time to think, let alone retaliate before he crushed them under his wrath.

Up on his feet again, his eyes scanned around for another target. He saw a group of them gathering together again, looks of absolute terror on their faces. He could not help the grim smile that crossed his face.

_They're afraid of me_, he observed. They were in complete fear for their lives, as if any moment could be their last. _And rightly so_.

He boom-jumped towards them dealing a vicious uppercut to the first one. He felt his jaw give way under his blow as he added a boom to it. He spun, dealing a hook to another. He continued the spin giving the third a kick to the gut. He faced his last foe and unleashed a terrible boom into his chest.

He took one more look around to make sure that he had terminated the threat. He did not see anybody else. As the adrenline rushed subsided slightly he began to feel the effects of his wounds. He was lightheaded, dizzy and felt dehydrated. He limped, clutching his wounded leg, trying to keep as much blood in his body as possible, all of this to no avail.

"Mom! Mark!" he yelled, unlatching the gate hobbling towards the front door of the house. It was locked so he used a boom to put it in splinters. He called out again for his mother and stepfather. There was no answer. As he was about make his way to the basement where they were likely to be hiding but he did not have the strenght to carry on. He collasped on the living room floor and heaved in lungfulls of oxygen as quickly as his body would allow.

_Not like this...not like this..._he pleaded as he slipped away into the black.

* * *

Lindsey ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Since the sun had hidden itself behind the trees she shadowported her way into Caleb's living room.

_Please God let him be alive_, she prayed silently to herself. She knelt beside of him and put her fingers to his neck, frantically seeking a pulse. To her overwhelming relief she found it. It was weak and slow but he was alive.

"Lifestream! Hurry!" she screamed. She rested her hand on his cheek on one hand and wiped the steady flow of tears from the other. She could not imagine losing one more person in her life.

_Please let him be okay_.

Lifestream and Nathan burst into the room seconds after her. Lifestream went on the other side of Caleb and did not hesitate to start healing him. She began to glow with that strange ambient light like she always did when she used her power. Lindsey watched in amazement as the bullet imbedded deep in his shoulder was pushed out as the skin and tissue mended itself.

Caleb suddenly bolted upright and looked around. He seemed to be in somewhat of a stupor.

"Mom..." he breathed in a voice, barely audible. "Mom!"

He was up on his feet and running through every room in the house, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he had almost died or that Lindsey and the others were even there. Lindsey took in a deep breath before she rose to her feet. It was not fatigue that was ailing her, but sorrow. Everything in her life had changed so fast! Nathan, long thought dead had basically busted down her door. Caleb had given her the ultimatum of choosing between the two of them. Now, the MCA was after him and was using his family to get to him.

_They're doing a pretty good job_, she thought, nearly aloud. Caleb usually had an iron will, his mind and heart set on doing what is right. His entire world was crashing down around him and he was buckling under the pressure.

He walked back into the living room. The look of panic had seemingly subsided.

"She's not here," he hung his head. She could see the inward battle reflecting on his face. He had put them all in danger by running off like this. It was exactly the kind of opportunity that the MCA needed to get ahold of him. Why would Mindflare suddenly warn him about all of this? Unless...

The reality of what was happening hit her like a wrecking ball.

"We have to leave!"

"What?" Caleb asked.

"Why? What's wrong?" Nathan stepped towards her, alarmed at the concern she was displaying.

"It's a trap! This is exactly the opportunity the MCA needs to get their hands on you. They can't touch you while you're at the mansion."

"I know all that. Mindflare told me all of this already. It was worth the risk. They got my dad," he stifled a sob, "my mom and stepfather were lucky."

"Mindflare is probably the one who tipped them off," she pointed out.

"No...he tried to warn me...that's..."

"...exactly what I wanted you to think," came a voice from outside the door. It was cool, and calm. It would have been pleasant except for the ominous tone infested thick within it. It could only belong to one person.

Mindflare, and his usual escort had just walked up to the house without warning. No doubt they had been waiting and watching the entire time from not far off. If looks could kill, Mindflare would have burst into flames on the spot. Caleb had been decieved, and now daggers and flames errupted from his eyes in hatred for Mindflare. He gathered energy in his fists, ready to strike.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Mindflare warned.

"Why, because you'll have your posse do your dirty work for you? You ignorant coward! We've been them once and we'll do it again," Caleb taunted through gritted teeth. Lindsey watched as Nathan did not move or say anything. He did reach down and unlatch the straps holding his pistols and kept his hands ready to draw at a moment's notice.

"Because if you so much as breathe in a way that I find threatening I'll have Grendel shred your mother in two," he said, flicking his head outside. True to his word, outside the young man had his claws at Caleb's mother's neck.

"Mom!" he screamed, taking a step towards her.

She did not reply with words but with a terror-filled screamed.

"Stay right where you are!" Mindflare warned. Caleb froze, under his spell.

"So it was a lie? You're going to turn me into the MCA now? Make a deal?" Caleb demanded.

"No, my dear boy. I was telling you the truth when I said that I'd realized the error of my ways dealing with lesser lifeforms. I was also telling you the truth when I told you that you have the power to end this war for one side or the other. The difference between them and me is that I will do whatever it takes to win."

"I won't be used for another one of your twisted ideas, Mindflare! Forget it!"

"It doesn't appear that you have much of a choice in the matter, Shockwave. I have no problem having your mother killed if that's what it takes."

"No! Please don't hurt her!"

Mindflare gave him a diabolical smirk. He gave Caleb a look that told him that the ball was in his court.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Caleb you can't be serious!" Lindsey protested.

"Quiet, Lindsey!" he growled.

Mindflare answered him as if there had not been an interruption at all.

"All you have to do is come with me. I had planned on you being here alone but since you brought some friends with you this complicates things."

"They followed me," Caleb spat bitterly.

"We saved your life!" Nathan interjected in disbelief.

"You would have died," even Lifestream could not hold her tongue at Caleb's apparent disregard for their help.

"I'll go. Let my mom go and let my friends go and I'll do whatever you ask. You have my word," Caleb promised.

This was _not_ happening. Lindsey was not going to pass up the opportunity to have her vengeance on Mindflare, much less hand Caleb over to him on a silver platter.

"Caleb, you don't have to do this. Lifestream can heal your mom," Lindsey pleaded.

"As gifted as this young lady is, I doubt that she can reconnect a head to its body," Mindflare smirked again. It was making her sick. She was not going to let him go free. She looked and saw that it was Luminos and Zues guarding him. The odds were not good but fighting was better than giving up.

"That's enough!" Nathan had drawn his pisol and pointed at Mindflare's head quick as a whisper. A red laser pointer flickered slightly between his eyes.

"Lower that weapon!" Mindflare commanded. He turned his gaze to Caleb with a threatening look upon his face. "If he shoots me, Grendel will kill your mother. I'm going to count to three. That would be one...two..."

"Stop!" Caleb jumped in front of the path of the laser. He turned around, his back facing Mindflare and he eased his way over to their side.

"Caleb! What are you doing?" Lindsey demanded. "We can save her!"

"Just go, Lindsey! Just let me go! I'll be alright! Please just do this so that they won't kill my mom," he begged her, tears forming in his eyes. Lindsey had had enough of this. They had been at a standstill for much too long. She shadowported outside and grabbed hold of Grendel and ported him back into the room so fast it must have seemed like a blink to everyone else. She held the boy down with her power, immobilizing him with fear.

"RUN!" she screamed to his mother. She stood there in a stupor, not sure what had happened. "Do anything and I'll kill him!" she had never been more serious in her life.

"You're not the one making threats here! He knows what it means to be a soldier to pay the price," his voice sounded bold but there was a look of fear and uncertainty on his face.

"Dad, please!" Grendel suddenly exclaimed, the fear invoked by Lindsey's power overtaking him. Everything came full circle. This was as startling revelation. Even Mindflare was not so heartless as to let his own son die.

"You keep your mouth shut!" he exclaimed. There was a look of shock and surprise on the other two's faces as well. It seemed that things were suddenly making sense to them. "Luminos, fetch the woman.

In a flash just as quick as her own, Luminos had disappeared and reappeared with Caleb's mother in his clutches. What happened next was so fast it was hard to tell if it were even real or if it were just a passing thought. Caleb aimed a focused boom and Luminos and fired, hitting him squarely in the face and sending him flying, probably dead. Zeus fired a bolt of lighting so powerful it burned a hole the size of a golf ball through Caleb's torso. Nathan fired a round from his pistol that hit Zeus squarely in the chest. Mindflare used his telekinesis to rip the gun from Nathan's grasp. The gun spun around and fired three rounds, one that hit Lifestream in the abdomen, one that hit Nathan in the neck, and another that hit Caleb's mother in the chest.

Lindsey held her ground, only her and Mindflare remained standing. Grendel was still locked tightly under her grasp. He called the gun to his hand and pointed it at her. She did not bother to raise him up and use him as a shield. She took her shadowform, in which the bullet would pass through her.

"Let him go," Mindflare pleaded.

"Put down the gun or I will kill him," she rasped through her altered voice.

"He can't be killed, he's invincible," Mindflare taunted. Lindsey had studied the Xavier Protocols on the Brotherhood of mutants extensively. Grendel's body was seemingly invincible because of us unparalleled healing factor. She had already formed a strategy for how to kill each of the Brotherhood, only because she figured she would have to go through them to get to Mindflare. She had discovered that, while in her shadowform, she did not even rely on oxygen to breath. While it was only in a simulation under Beast's supervision that she'd tried it, it was a ninety percent accepted fact that she would be able to breathe in space so long as she could maintain her shadowform.

"He can't breathe in space, I can," she warned. She could hear the faint groaning of Caleb, his mother and Lifestream in the background.

"Even if that is true, I'll kill them all before you get back. You're not that fast!" he did not look like he was really convinced of that. Lindsey wasn't either. She and Grendel were moving out of the house and into the sky before either of them could think or say another thing. Up, and away, so far from the ground the house was only a spec. Soon she could look down and see the ocean and the outline of North America. She was well out of the atmosphere of the Earth but she had to be sure that she would clear its gravitational pull. When she was satisfied with her distance, she plummeted back down into the house where she was.

Mindflare gasped and fired the gun in alarm. It missed her by inches and smashed into the wall behind them. She had kept hold of Grendel, deciding she would give Mindflare one more chance to surrender.

"I was nearly to the moon and back, and you barely had time to blink. Drop the gun," Lindsey begged in agony.

"Please just do what she says, Dad!"

"Shut up! You're bluffing! No one is that fast!"

"Your son's life depends on you putting down that gun, Mindflare! Do it! I'm going to count to three. That would be one..."

"Wait!" he pleaded, still not willing to part with the gun. He must have realized that his power was nearly useless against her for he had stopped trying to tamper with her mind.

"...two..."

"Stop!"

"Put down the gun!"

He began to point the gun towards Caleb. She saw his finger squeeze the trigger and that was all she needed. She ported up to space and let Grendel go. He gasped for air that wasn't there and floated away into the void. She ported back down to the house to see the bullet still in flight flying towards Caleb's face. She scooped him up and moved him out of the way just in time.

She appeared in front of Mindflare, making her aware that she had done what she had set out to do.

"Just you and me now," her voice rattled as she assaulted him. First, she knocked the gun from his hand then grabbed him by the throat. She began to choke the life out of him and simultaneously invoke him with her fear-like shadow energy.

She screamed with delight as she sucked him into her nighmare, closer and closer to death. She absorbed his hate, his fear and anger. He remained powerless under her grasp.

"No...please..." he begged silently.

_Just die_..._please just die_...

There was a tall, thin figure rising from the other room. She could not be distracted. She had to finish him off. Right as he was about to slip away an atomic bomb went off in her face. She was vaulted off of Mindflare and into the wall with such force it gave way under her weight. She tasted blood in her mouth and fell, in agony onto her face. She lay still, so very still. She did not even dare to breathe. She was completely blinded and could not seem to return to her shadowform.

She heard Mindflare say something under his breath. She gritted her teeth expecting to breathe her last breath. Instead she heard several crackles of electricity.

"Grab Shockwave and let's go," she heard them walk out of the door, leaving it open. She waited as long as she could stand and then dared to open her eyes and look around. She still could only see circles and haze. Luminos must have hit her hard.

"Nathan?" she called out. She tried to take her shadowform again but her power seemed to not be working. All she got was a low moan in response but she could tell it was him. She crawled to the sound of his voice. He had sat up when she got to him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'll live. What's wrong?"

"I can't see. He hit me with a beam of light when I was in shadowform. I looked right at it. Nothing Lifestream can't fix. They took Caleb," she said, barely able to catch her breath. Everything had happened so fast. It was all over in a matter of seconds. "Lifestream?"

"She's gone, babe."

"What?" Lindsey asked in disbelief.

"They killed her and Caleb's mom before they left."

"Oh God," she sobbed, pressing her hand over her mouth. She fell into Nathan's arms. She did not know what to do or think. She just cried and let him her comfort her, even though she knew that everything would not be okay...at least not today.


	39. Catalyst

The days seemed to drone on and on like a buzzing fly that just will not go away. Even in less than a week, Caleb's absence was duely noted by everyone in the mansion. Other than Lifestream's untimely, tragic death, it was the hot topic in the hallways. Every time Lindsey heard his name it was like someone was pouring salt in a wound that just would not heal. Like a mouth sore that would go away if she could just stop rubbing her tongue against it. Nathan was no comfort at all, she soon discovered. She loved him, was glad to be with him again, and would have chosen him over Caleb a thousand times again, especially in light of Caleb's recent actions. Still, he was no replacement for what Caleb was to her. She knew, that in all of this, in all of her pain since that fateful day when Mindflare had started the war, that he was the only person who could make her feel better. Now, he was gone. The X-Men were meeting today to discuss what to do about the situation. Lindsey knew Cyclops better than to plan a daring rescue mission on his behalf. Caleb had been reckless, and his rash actions had come at the cost of lives.

_And more..._

Lindsey had not been able to use her power since that day. Apparently, Luminos had hit her with such a devastating, concentrated beam of light, that she possibly faced permenant side effects. Also, her vision remain greatly impared. She was not totally blind, but she could not see enough to walk around independently. Others had to lead her around by the hand, help her into her chairs and whatnot. Even if Lifestream were alive, since Lindsey's powers had developed, she had been unable to heal her wounds, even superficial ones. Instead, it caused her mortal agony. No one could explain this enigma other than to hypothesize that because there was light involved in Lifestream's power that it simply did not work on Lindsey. In the same respect, in every training session and test, Lindsey's power had proved ineffective againt Lifestream. They were as opposite to each other as Lindsey was to Luminos.

As it stood, the X-Men were about ready to meet to discuss the situation involving Caleb. Also, Nathan was going to present his information to Cyclops concerning Bolivar Trask and the Sentinels. Lindsey saw the entire meeting play out in her mind long before it started. Cyclops would speak about Caleb as if he were some sort of afterthought. In a very matter-of-fact tone he would explain, in detail the events that had led up to his capture and Lifestream's death. He would not dare let Nathan or Lindsey speak up on his behalf. No, Cyclops would do all of the talking and convince the X-Men that Caleb was a lost cause. He would close the 'matter' and move on to let Nathan present his information to the rest of the X-Men. If anyone brought it up he would interject the fact that there was nothing further to discuss.

Caleb, Lindsey knew, was something of the past, as far as the X-Men were concerned. She would not pretend that it sat well with her, but she was not prepared to suggest that they do anything on his behalf. She could not blame them.

_What would you have done? What if it had been you parents?_ She could not help but think that she would have done the same thing. _It is amazing the risks that someone will take in order to save those that they love._ She was completely at a loss for how to feel or what to do. Could she do anything at all? Without her power and her sight she was paralyzed and blind.

"Okay everyone, take your seats and lets get this started," Cyclops spoke somewhat gruffly. Lindsey could not see anyone's face but she knew who was there. All of the X-Men had come back from their various missions, except for Jean, Forge, Storm and Typo. Everyone, save for Caleb and Lifestream took their seats at the conference table and listened intently as Cyclops began to speak.

"I know that you are all wanting to know what happened a few days ago concerning Shockwave and Lifestream and the incident with the Brotherhood," he began. Lindsey did not try to hide the scowl on her face. Incident? Is that really what he was going to call it?

"Shockwave, against orders, left the mansion and went into the city where he met with Mindflare. There is no reason to suggest that this meeting was planned. My guess is that Mindflare was waiting for his chance to get a hold of him. Mindflare gave him information concerning the MCA and Shockwave's family.

"Upon recieving the information that Mindflare gave to him, Shockwave returned to the mansion and hijacked one of jets, refusing the help of his comerades," there were murmers and whispers here and there as he spoke. "He took the jet first to his father's house where he killed several MCA agents but was unsuccessful in rescuing his family. From there, he got back into the jet and flew to his mother's house where the MCA were also waiting for him. He was mortally wounded. Luckily for him, Lifestream and Nightmare, accompanied by Titan were right behind him. Lifestream was able to save him before he died.

"At this point, the Brotherhood showed up and demanded that he go with them at the threat of killing his mother. He tried to consent, but a scuffle started that resulted in the deaths of his mother, Lifestream and Grendel, one of the Brotherhood. Also, Nightmare was badly wounded during the fight, with little chance for recovery. Shockwave was taken captive by the Brotherhood, and that is why he is not here with us today," Cyclops gave a deep sigh as he finished explaining. She did not have to have her sight to know that the look on his face was solemn and his message was clear. He did not want to have to any questions concerning the matter. It seemd it should be a generally accepted thing that he be left alone.

Though she had nothing to look at per say, she turned her face away so that she could hide the tears of anger. She had expected this, but she did not expect the rage building inside of her.

"So what are we gonna do?" Markas suddenly piped up. The room was silent and all eyes were on Cyclops. Lindsey kept her head down and bit her lip, keeping her fingers crossed under the table.

"We will do nothing," he finally replied. She could hear gasps and murmers around the table. She wished she could she different people's individual responses but it was not a luxury that she had at the moment.

"Nothing? You can't be serious, Scott," she could hear Beast's cool, affectionate tone tighten a little bit as he spoke.

"He acted against orders and on his own. His actions costs the life of a valuable comrade and friend and now he must face the consequences for his actions," Cyclops was cold and emotionless with his responses.

"He's one of us! You're just gonna leave him in the hands of the enemy?" Markas was in utter disbelief. "What about not leaving a man behind?"

"He was not on an authorized, official mission. He acted on his own accord and we cannot be held responsible for what he has done," his voice was softening now, as if he were trying to be as understanding as possible. It was clear that he was not going to convince Markas so easily.

"You are really asking us to accept that?"

"You are really willing to risk your life for him?"

"Of course I am! The alternative is to sit here and do nothing! Don't get me wrong! Caleb made a huge mistake, and if...when I get him back here I'm going to beat within an inch of his life. We all make mistakes. He was doing what he did to protect the ones that he loves," Markas pleaded.

"And look where it got him! His parents are dead and so is Lifestream!"

"He never asked her to come along," Lindsey suddenly piped up, "he never asked for any of us to go along. If you're going to cut him out just because he went on an unauthorized mission, you need to cut me out too!"

"What do you propose that we do? Drop everything that we're doing, ignore the fact that Bolivar Trask is ready to launch an army of Sentinels to destroy mutantkind, and go rescue Caleb? I may not be as close to him as you, but I know that he would understand that he is a necessary sacrifce for the greater good," Cyclops reasoned.

"He's a person! He's not some expendable asset, some tool, some _power _for the team. He's a human being, flesh, blood and bones, just like you! Yeah, he made a mistake, a big one, I'll give you that. Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't do the same thing if it were Jean who were in danger? Could you really leave her?" Lindsey demanded.

"No. You're right. If Jean were in danger I'd storm the castle all by myself if I had to. I'd go right through anyone who got in my way," Cyclops admitted.

"So you see? We have to save him!" Markas urged.

"We can't. I understand where you are coming from, but we can't continue to ignore the Sentinels. Pretty soon their army will launch and it will be too late. The X-Men must stop Trask and I have to lead them," Cyclops said, with a note of finality in his voice.

"Okay, then. You lead the team to the Sentinels and I'll lead the team to rescue Caleb," Markas offered.

"Are you kidding me? You want me to let you lead a team against The Brotherhood just to save Caleb?" Cyclops looked like he was about to have a fit.

"Don't forget that the MCA is looking for Caleb too. They want him for something, probably his power. My best guess is that they want to use him for some sort of weapon. That's a pretty big problem too, not one that we can just ignore," Markas pointed out, "you know what kind of destruction he's capable of.

No one could argue with that. Caleb was a little too powerful for everyone's good.

"What are you proposing?" Cylcops asked.

"Cyke, are you really planning to let him do this?" Jubilee asked.

"They're just kids, Scott," Rogue chimed in.

"We're not kids! You've been treating us like kids for too long now. Yeah, a mission here and a mission there, but you keep us on the back burner, away from the real action and don't let us help when we can," Palisade interjected.

"We can save him; I know we can," Stardust added.

"Okay! OKAY! Everyone calm down. Markas, what are you proposing?" Cyclops narrowed his gaze, or it seem that way, one could not tell with his eye hidden behind a visor.

"You lead the X-Men, I'll lead the Junior X-Men; you go blow up the killer robot factory and I'll save Caleb."

"You really want to do this?" Cyclops asked, "you and your entire team could get killed doing this."

"I know that you believe we can do it. You wouldn't even be entertaining the idea if you didn't know we were capable!" Stardust pointed out.

"Two missions, two captains, two teams. I don't think that's a coincidence," Chrona added optimistically.

"Let's do this then! Team, are you with me?" Markas looked around the room.

"I'm in," Palisade was the first to get out of his seat and join Markas.

"Me too," Chrona was never far from his side.

"Now I can't letcha have all the fun! Someone's gotta watch yo' back," Isaac stood.

"I'm not sure of how much help I can be, but I'm in," Druida joined the group as well.

"Me too!" Stardust was last to join the group.

"Me too," came the voice of Beast. This was, to say the least, unexpected.

"Hank?" Cyclops asked in disbelief.

"He's my friend, Scott. I have to be honest that it means more to me to see that he's okay than to be on this mission to stop the Sentinels," Beast's gentle voice had the tones of urgency in it, "besides, someone is going to have to watch these kids to make sure that they don't get into too much trouble."

"Well, I guess that you have some planning to do. You can use the other War Room to plan your mission. You're going to need to find Mindflare first," Cyclops advised.

"Cyclops," Markas suddenly changed his tone.

"Yes?"

"Thank you," he said. A small part of Lindsey's heart stung. She had never really felt like she had fit in with their group, the Junior X-Men. Then again, she knew that she did not belong with the older X-Men. She felt so safe by Nathan's side.

The door opened and they began to file out. Lindsey just sat there in disbelief. She began to search her soul. She wanted to go, but she wanted to stay. She was useless without her power no matter what she did. Could she give up the comforts and protection of the mansion? Could she leave her life as X-Man up to save her friend? What would Caleb have done?

"You made the right choice, babe," Nathan rubbed her back assuredly. She did not need anymore convincing. She knew without second thought exactly where Caleb would be and what he would do if it were her in his place.

"Markas, wait!" she pleaded, nearly tumbling from her chair. "I'm going too."

"Babe! No, sit down," Nathan was taken back.

"Your power is gone? You can't fight like that," Markas pointed out. It wasn't hateful, but sympathetic.

"I don't care. I could never live with myself if I just sat here and did nothing. I don't care what it costs; I wanna save him," she had made up her mind and walked towards the door, arms outstretched so as not to run into anything.

"Lin, you can't go!"

"It'll be suicide without your abilities," Cyclops was saying it worriedly. He did not seem too upset that she wanted to go.

_My abilities? All they have ever done is cause me pain anyway. I can't keep living in the shadow of what I can do. I have to be myself and make my decision based on who I am_.

"You know, Caleb once told me that it's not our abilities that teach us what we are, but our choices. You should think about that Cyclops," and with that she felt a furry hand grasp hers. She allowed Beast to lead her.

"Lin!" Nathan grabbed her other arm.

"Don't try to stop me, Nate. I've made up my mind. Stay here. Help them take care of the Sentinels. Caleb will understand, and so will I," she stood to face him for a moment.

"Lin, you can't...I can't lose you again," he begged, taking both of her hands. She leaned forward and kissed him with all of the love and passion she had inside of her. She held him tightly and whispered in his ear.

"I love you with all of my heart. Don't be afraid; you're not gonna lose me. I'm coming back for you, but I have to do this. I would never be able to live with myself if I didn't. I love you. I always have. I always will," she pulled away, tears flowing from her wounded eyes painfully. She wiped her cheek and reached out for Beast's hand again. They crowded into an elevator and headed towards the ground floor. They would not be able to use the gear or the vehicles. It was just them now.

"I'll protect you," Beast whispered in her ear. She leaned against and let him wrap her in his powerful embrace.

"Thank you," she closed her eyes and leaned against his chest. She took comfort in the fact that Beast was with them. Not just because he was older, had more experience or was strong, but because she knew that he loved Caleb and would do as much as her to save him.

"He's gonna be okay," he said assuredly.

"I know," she smiled bittersweetly. She was not really convinced and her hopes for his survival were pretty low. The truth was that there was no guarantee that he was even alive now.

* * *

Caleb awoke to being slapped hard in the face. 

"Wake up!" he heard a gruff voice order as he felt another smack, this one harder than the one before.

His arms where chained above his head and he was barely able to stand on the floor. They ached from blood not being able to get to them. He tried to use his power but there was nothing in him. He must be under some sort of anti-mutant radiation or something. He was in some sort of cell. Every inch of the place was slate gray concrete. There was a single window high up in the room, near the ceiling with thick, solid bars preventing entry or exit. Above him was what looked like a gigantic halogen lamp. No doubt, this was the radiation keeping him from blowing the place to smithereens.

He looked in front of him to see that Zeus had been smacking him in the face. Caleb tugged on the chains to no avail. What he would give to get his hands on Zeus. He stared his mother's killer in the face. Before he had faded into unconsciousness, he had heard Mindflare order that Zeus finish off whoever was left. He heard several cracks of electricity before the scooped him up and took him away.

He would have his vengeance, one way or the other.

"He's on his way," Zeus smirked.

"Who's on his way?" Caleb demanded irritably.

"You know who. He's gonna bleed you dry. You're finished," he taunted. Caleb burst out into laughter. He laughed until he heaved and coughed and tears streamed down his face.

"What's so damn funny?"

"You want me to let you in on a secret?" Caleb asked. Zeus continued to smirk but walked forward.

_That's right, just a little closer,_ Caleb thought, not letting his face give away his plan.

"You're right, I am finished, but the funny thing is..." Caleb nodded, his voice barely above a whisper. He leaned forward as if he planned on whispering something in his ear.

"...so are you," Caleb hissed.

In one fluid motion, he jumped up and wrapped his legs around Zeus's neck, pulling him into the stream of radiation so that he could not use his power. Zeus was a formidable foe when he could shoot wrathful bolts of lightning from hands but when they were just two men, Caleb outweighed him by more than a hundred pounds. Locking his ankles, his thighs closed around Zeus's neck. He struggled, using his fist to pound at Caleb's legs but to no avail.

"This is for my mom you bastard!" Caleb hissed, squeezing with all of his might. Zeus sputtered and spat as he tried to gasp for air. Twisting his legs with all the force he could must he heard the sound of a bone snapping under his grip. Suddenly, Zeus stopped struggling and fell limply, a lifeless corpse held up only by Caleb's legs. He sat his body beneath him so that he could reach him. There was a ring of keys at his belt loop. Kicking of his shoe and sock on one foot he tried to detach the class. He looked up in the corner and saw that there was a security camera. He had only precious seconds to free himself and get clear of the radiation. He was not too worried once he regained use of his power. He could hear the sound of a door opening from outside the reinforced steel door on his cell.

He did not have chance. He had freed the keys and was clutching them in his toes. He would have to get his foot up to his ankles, fit the key in the lock and turn it. The door to his cell swung open and Luminos burst in, Mindflare hot on his heels.

Luminos's face was bandaged from where Caleb had no doubt broken most of the bones on the left side of his face. He felt a dark satisfaction in knowing that even the best plastic surgeon in the world probably would not be able to restore his face to the way it was.

_You're lucky you can even stand,_ Caleb sneered bitterly.

"Brandon!" he exclaimed looking down at his brother's body. He took a step forward, looked more closely and could see that there was something seriously wrong with his neck. Caleb soundlessly dared him to come any closer. He had no problem reunited them by giving Luminos the same treatment.

Luminos exploded with a barrage of profanity directed towards Caleb. He gathered light energy in his hands, ready to blast a hole through him. Caleb did not care if he died right then. He had already lost everything important in his life. He almost welcomed it. He knew, that the next life would not be as painful as this one had.

"Don't kill him! We need him!" Mindflare objected. Luminos let the beam go, and Caleb closed his eyes, expecting to be blown in half. He opened his eyes again and saw that Mindflare was protecting him with a telekinetic shield.

"He killed my brother!" Luminos objected, bewildered and in a rage.

"He was told to leave him alone. No doubt he came here to torture our prisoner," Mindflare looked to the floor in disapproval. He only looked like he was irritated that Zeus was dead. Like it was more of an inconvenience than a loss. "He should have known better than to let his guard down."

Luminos let out uncontrolable sobs as he knelt down by his brother, just out of Caleb's reach. Suddenly, he felt invisible hands squeeze his throat and constrict his body.

"Get your brother's body. I assure you that he will not strike out at you," Mindflare tightened his grip around Caleb's body, using his hand to signify what he wanted his telekinetic energy to do. His joints cracked and popped painfully under his grip. He grunted in pain, struggling desperately to get free. He was as helpless as a small animal caught in a snake's coil.

Luminos pulled his brothers body to him and held him in his arms, sobbing. Midas and Exus walked in the room, with looks of rage on their face at Zeus's demise. They helped Luminos pick up the body.

"Leave us," Mindflare commanded, "Now!"

They filed out, throwing looks of hatred at Caleb as the left. He was left alone in the room with Mindflare.

"Look at me," Mindflare commanded. Caleb deliberately looked away. Suddenly he felt the muscles in his eyes straining and turning towards Mindflare. He cried out in pain.

"Do it or I'll rip them out! I don't have any use for your eyes," Mindflare threatened. Caleb knew that he was not a man who made empty threats. He looked at as he stepped closer to him. Caleb spat in his face, but never reached his target. The glob of spit stopped in midair, suspended by Mindflare's telekinesis. The spit flew back into Caleb's face, landing right between his eyes.

He tried to speak, but Mindflare was keep his jaw shut.

"You've got so much fight in you," Mindflare beamed, "very admirable. It's too bad that you didn't take my offer when you had the chance. Think of what could have created, or destroyed!" Mindflare's eyes gleamed with red insanity as he spoke.

He used his telekinesis to move Caleb's head to the right and he saw that there was a woman chained ten feet away from him. She too was under an anti-mutant radiation emitter. She was unconscious and had been that way through his entire ordeal.

"I would like to introduce you to your cellmate. When she wakes up you should get acquainted. You're going to be spending a lot of time together. The two of you are gonna win this war for us. Mutants everywhere would kill for the opportunity you have...the opportunity that I'm so graciously giving you.

"The MCA had her for a while but we saved her. Caleb, I would you like to meet Rachel Willem, known to the mutant community as Catalyst. Together, you two are going to destroy the MCA and all those who oppose the Homo Superior once and for all!" He errupted into psycotic laughter. Caleb felt his stomach lurch as Mindflare laughed, his murderous intentions fueling leaking out through his very pores.

_God, don't let him use me to kill more innocent people! Please just kill me now! Please, God!_

"God? GOD?!" Mindflare laughed, looking up at the ceiling in a mocking demeanor. "No God," he shook his head and pouted his lip. "No one is coming to save you. I'm your god now."

Caleb felt something twitch in his brain and he slipped into a bad dream.


	40. The Prophesy

Israel was nothing like what Typo thought that it would be. The terrain he was anticipating was much more desert-like than what he was seeing. There was grass, trees, hills and sandstone cliffs. The Remnant base itself was hidden deep within a series of man-made caves within the cliffs. The different chambers were connected by underground tunnels.

As far as civilization went, they were truly out in the middle of nowhere. There were no other buildings or people as far as the eye could see. Typo was grateful for the opportunity to go outside. He had always been quite the indoors kind of guy, but being cooped up in a cave for days will give anyone cabin fever, he decided. It was still very warm in Israel. It was starting to cool down in New York. Typo was not much for cold weather. Snow was just grand in his book, fun to look at, but not to drive or walk in. They were still in autumn in New York, so he was missing out on the leaves turning, but he was used to missing out on that. He had lived in Wickenburg, Arizona for the past few years. He was quite literally in the middle of the desert there. A smile crossed his face thinking of the life he used to lead. He had all the money a twenty-something year-old kid could ever hope for, a big house that was all his own, and he was miserable. He led the loneliest existence one could imagine. He spent upwards of sixteen hours a day in front of a computer, writing programs for his employer. He was paid on a commission base for the programs that he wrote, so each new program was a bigger check. He still got paid a monthly salary, one that was quite generous in fact. It was still nothing in comparison to the commission checks that he would get for writing software. He would never go back to it; he liked his life with the X-Men much better.

He and Forge were leading a team of The Remnant to set up new perimeter defenses. There old was formidable enough, but was not hidden well enough. Typo suggested that they use Forge cloaking devices to hide the turrets, but they wanted something better. It frustrated Typo whenever people could not see the logical, practical solution to a problem. Forge had a device that bent the light around and object to make it invisible to the naked eye. Instead, they wanted entirely new gun turrets fixed into the ground with hydraulic lifts, so that they could surface when needed and be hidden when not. It was a good idea, but drilling through the rock and rigging a door with hinges that was inconspicuous was absolutely absurd. Typo wanted to believe that it could not be done, but it was his job to see to it that it was, so he had to have a little faith at the moment.

"You look like your deep in thought," said a pleasant voice walking beside him. He turned and saw that Terra was there, smiling. He was curious as to why she had been put on the team to help him. She seemed like she was in with the thick of the organization. Then again, she did not know about the identity double that Ben-Joseph and Prophet had been pulling for quite some time now. She had seemed quite hurt about being kept in the dark, but even more disappointed that she had not figured it out for herself a long time ago.

"I'm always deep in thought," Typo replied, a little too coldly. He was not very good with being social, especially with women.

"Is that a personality thing or do you think that it has to do with your mutation?" she asked. Typo was caught off guard by the question. He had often wondered the very same thing. He remembered when he was a boy, before his powers had manifested themselves that he had always been very systematic with his way of thinking. All of that took a jump start whenever his mutation took effect though. Because he was so closely linked to computers with his technopathy, he began to think like a computer, compartmentalizing his life to the extreme. He did not know, in this case, which came first, the chicken or the egg, but he knew that both of them played a serious factor.

"I would say both. I'm not sure which came first. I'm systematic by nature, but when my powers manifested themselves I became increasingly so," he replied, once again, as if he were only stating facts, no emotion or feeling. Terra began to giggle again.

"Do you really talk like that? 'When my powers manifested themselves I became increasingly so,'" she tried her best to make her face and voice as stoic as stone but was unable to keep from cracking smiles.

"Yes," he answered simply, frowning a little.

"Don't get your feelings hurt! It's fine. You are who you are and you don't try to be something you're not. I like that," she gave his arm a playful punch. She gave him a look as if she were expecting a reply. She had not asked him a question. Or had she?

"Thank you," he said awkwardly. His face became hot and he looked away, as if he were focused on the task at hand. The truth he could not focus with her around, giggling around all cute and distracting. Unless she could drill through rock, she had no business being there. She could not do any heavy lifting.

"Your welcome," she giggled again. "So what's the plan, Typo? You and Forge are leading this."

"Somehow or another, we are going to have to drill through the rock, fashion a door that opens with ease to let the turrets out, but can be walked on and not obvious. All of this is much less practical than Forge's cloaking devices," he explained as basically as he knew how.

"Okay. I can help with rock," Terra replied nimbly.

"Really? What can you do?"

"I can phase, shape and control minerals, such as rock, and shape them into anything that I want. I can change the consistency of my body to become like the mineral that I take on."

"Wow. That's quite a gift. I am not familiar with you or with your gift. You're not in any of the systems that I have looked into."

"That makes me happy to hear that. I've tried really hard to keep a low profile since I found out about my mutation. I don't want the MCA or any other organization knowing who I am, what I can do or where to find me."

"I understand. I've erased my information from all of the U.S. government's records. The only archive with my information is the Xavier Protocols."

"What are the Xavier Protocols?" she asked curiously.

"Professor Charles Xavier began a school for mutants with extreme abilities in attempt to help them control their powers and enter society capable of living a normal life. Some of the students that came to the school stayed to become teachers. They became known as the X-Men. The school became quite a large organization, and they needed a means of locating mutants who might need the help that the X-Men offered.

"He had a machine called Cerebro built that accented his psychic abilities and locate mutants by merely opening his mind and looking for the distinct brainwaves that mutants emit. He began to log the mutants that he found in an interactive computer archive which he called the Xavier Protocols. It easily stands as the most extensive archive for mutants known to man," he explained, once again trying not to be too extensive with his answers. He had been known to bore people, or talk over their heads if he was not careful. Surprisingly, Terra seemed to be keeping up with the conversation just fine.

"And I'm not there? In the Xavier Protocols?" she asked.

"No. Chances are that your powers had only been manifest for a short time before Professor Xavier died. The only reason I was in there at all was because I put it there and the government had me as a mutant suspect."

"Wow, that's fun," she said sarcastically, "what do you say we get this show on the road?"

"Sounds good to me," Typo could not help but to crack a smile. He liked Terra. There were only a few people who connected with him enough to get him to smile. They had several large trucks with two turrets in each one. They also had Colossus who was going to be doing all of their heavy lifting. Typo walked over to Forge and gave him a nod.

"You ready to start, friend?" Forge asking, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"…more than ready," Typo mumbled, his thoughts still on Terra. He refocused his attention to the job that they had to do. "How do you want to do this? Terra says that she can handle the rock problem for us."

"That's good news. I brought some rock drills just in case," he replied.

"You're not gonna need those drills. Why don't I just show you what I can do so that you know what we're working with?" Terra interjected.

"Go ahead. Show us what you can do," Forge waved his hand in gesture for her to go ahead.

She knelt down and placed her hands on the rock below her. They all watched in amazement as the rock seemed to liquefy before their eyes. She made it take the form of a life-size statue of herself with remarkable detail and then allowed the rock to return to its original form again.

"Impressive," Forge mused.

"Quite," Typo added. It would not take long at all for them to install the turrets with her help. She could shape the rock in way she needed, change the terrain to fit their needs. All they needed now was some heavy lifting.

"Colossus, will you please lift one of those turrets off of the truck and put it there?" Typo asked. Colossus did not respond but suddenly his skin became a nigh indestructible alloy granted him a ridiculous amount of strength. It was a strange sight to see a metallic man lift an object larger than him and place nimbly on the ground as if it were a paperweight.

"Okay, Terra. What I need you to do is make a hole that the turret can hide in and rig the rock so that it opens when the hydraulic lift is activated and closes when the turret is let down. Can you do that?" Forge asked.

"Piece of cake," she said, standing to her feet. Suddenly her body turned into liquid rock and she disappeared into the ground. The rock beneath the turret began to swirl and bubble and the turret began to descend into the earth. In about thirty seconds, Terra had made exactly what Forge had asked for, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Terra?" Typo asked. She was nowhere to be found. He looked around to see if there was any sign of her and then went to the place where the turret had once been. Without warning, a rock monster emerged from next to the earth where the turret was hidden and changed into Terra.

"All done!" she exclaimed. "Did I scare you?"

"No," Typo lied, "you startled me. There's a difference."

"Right! Well, how many of these turrets are you going to need to set up?"

"Forty-three," Typo did some quick math in his head.

"I thought it was forty-seven?" Forge asked, throwing Typo a confused look.

"That is what had originally decided, because we didn't know we'd be able to mount them on uneven ground. With Terra, we can put them anywhere and that eliminates several hundred feet of wasted space on the northwest part of the terrain. Instead of putting more in a concentrated area, we can put fewer in a true perimeter around the base," Typo smiled. Everyone around, including Terra looked as if they had no idea what he was talking about. Forge was able to understand immediately.

"Okay, then that cuts about four and a half hours out of our job," he smiled. It was good news. It gave them plenty of free time. Typo usually ran tests on the programs and software that he was writing in his spare time.

_I really need to get another hobby_.

The work went by fairly quickly. Colossus assured them that it was quite easy moving the turrets. Typo believed him, not only because he had read his file but because he saw with his own eyes his incredible feats of strength without breaking a sweat. That prompted a random question and Typo blurted it before he really thought whether or not he wanted to know.

"When you're in your metallic form, do you sweat?" Colossus raised his eyebrows and laughed at this. "Sorry…"

"It is okay, friend. The answer to your question is no, I do not perspire when I am in my metallic form. It transforms my skin completely. Why do you ask?

"Honestly, it was pure curiosity,"

"Don't they say, in America, that curiosity killed the catfish?" now it was Typo's turn to laugh.

"It's _cat_. Curiosity killed the cat, not catfish," Typo corrected kindly, "and yes, they do say that."

With that said, suddenly the sound of helicopter blades chopping through the wind could be heard in the distance. Typo had not received word that there would be any arriving or departing flights over the radio. He grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked in the distance. What he saw made his stomach turn.

There was a small army mowing through the desert in the general direction of The Remnant base—far from good news.

"We have to leave now!" Typo shouted so that the team could hear him, "evacuate the trucks and the team below. We have to move quickly!"

Forge looked through a pair of his own binoculars and his expression turned grim. Terra was already on the radio informing the rest of The Remnant of the situation. Colossus loaded the remaining turrets into various trucks and sent them on their way. Try as the may, as fast as they could go, the army would be upon them soon and had surely spotted them. Their location was compromised.

Typo could only hope that the small company of choppers and tanks were mutant-friendly, but he doubted it.

"How does this happen?" Terra asked bewildered, "the one day we're outside and in sight, an army shows up!" It did not take Typo to long to figure out what had happened. The Remnant had been sold out. There was a double agent within their ranks.

"Sabotage. Why in the world would they be here with all this firepower today?" he wondered out loud. "We have to go."

No sooner than he spoke, a helicopter fired a missile towards them. Forge, who was never surprised by anything, had brought the weapons necessary to disrupt missiles with him. He fired a burst of flares into the air to see if the missile was heat-seeking. It suddenly changed paths and collided with the flares over their heads. The explosion was enormous, nothing like the movies that Typo used to watch and nothing like the simulated explosions that he had faced in the danger room. The real deal was a lot scarier.

"We have to go! Now!" Forge said, turning towards one of the secret entrances into the cave. Typo and Terra followed close behind him. The sound of another missile heading their way could be heard. Typo thought for sure that they would be obliterated at any moment. Colossus ran past them and another explosion was heard. The shockwave knocked them to the ground.

"Colossus!" Typo turned and looked and saw only a cloud of dust. Suddenly a steel giant emerged from the cloud and was running towards them. There were areas on his body that were black from the explosion but he seemed to be alright for the most part, just out of breath.

"We need to keep moving. I don't know how many more times I am going to be able to do that," he confessed.

"Let's go then," Terra urged. Typo ran as fast as he legs would carry him. He did not worry about getting any of the gear, and not leaving a trace that he was there. Whoever was firing the missiles knew they were there and did not like it. He activated the gun turrets that were up and running to fire on anything that came within range. They only needed to install seven more when they had left, so they were mostly covered.

As he passed the closest turret he set their protocol to defend against incoming airstrike attacks. He heard several more explosions in the air.

They found and entrance soon enough but Forge was unable to get through. Because they were under attack, the security system would not allow access from the outside, in. Typo began to work his magic, trying to tell the security system to let them through. A missile exploded outside of the entrance to the cave. They were lucky the shot missed. If one got through they would be killed instantaneously. He was having a hard time concentrating, accessing the correct protocols. They were going to die right before they reached safety and it was because he could not access it fast enough.

Terra grabbed hold of Forge and leaped into the wall. They both turned into liquid rock and passed through like a vapor. In seconds she emerged and grabbed hold of Colossus.

"You might wanna go back to normal form," she suggested, "makes things easier," she winked. It amazed Typo that she could be so calm and find time for joking and for antics at a time like this. He was still trying to access the protocols when she emerged from the rock door again.

"Take my hand!" she ordered. He grabbed on and his body went through the weirdest experience he could have possible imagine. His flesh and bone became rock solid. Every last inch of his body felt itchy as he passed through the stone. He emerged through the other side of the door just as he heard an explosion from the entrance. She had saved him in the nick of time. As she let go of his hand all of the rock particles in his body rushed out of him and into her. He coughed and some wet sand came up from his lungs.

"That was quite strange," he choked. She began giggling. They were just in mortal danger and she was able to laugh. She had rare and enviable gift indeed. She could turn an absolute disaster into humor.

"We need to talk to Ben-Joseph, now," she suddenly became very serious. She could not have been more right. If Jean did not know what was going on, which was unlikely, she needed to aware. A telepathic message suddenly invaded his thoughts.

_X-Men, please report to the briefing room. It appears that we have some invaders on our hands. Don't promise anyone anything; we might not be going into the fight. We're in the process of negotiating with them._

Terra's radio crackled with static before a voice came through addressing her by name.

"Terra, Mr. Ben-Joseph is requesting your immediate presence in the briefing room. In case you hadn't noticed, we're under attack!"

"Thanks, tell him I'm on my way," she said.

As he was making his way towards the briefing room, there was a familiar ring in his head. Because he was able to intercept and understand electrical signals, he had a cell phone built into his brain. It was his little brother's phone. He recognized the ringtone. He had to fight the urge to disconnect the call, but he knew to only call in the case of an emergency.

_What are the odds that he would need to talk to me right now, of all times?_

"Hello?" he asked allowed, connected the call, not afraid to show the aggravation in his voice.

"Adam?"

"Jake," he shot back, trying to get past the formalities as quickly as possible, "I have to be truthful, now is a really bad time. Is this important?"

"Yeah, it is."

"What? Why?"

"Caleb went lone wolf and got himself captured by the Brotherhood. Markas is gonna lead a mission to go save him."

"What does that have to do with you?"

"I decided to go along. I can't just leave Caleb hanging," there were hints of strain in his voice.

"Yes you can. If Caleb made the decision to do what he did without approval, and went all by himself, he can pay the consequences," Typo shot back. This was a mess. He would be worried about Jake's safety forever now. That was one of the reasons that he sent him to the X-Men in the first place. He did not want him staying with him, but he did not want him out on the street, trying to fend for his own either.

"That's crap, Adam and you know it! Caleb wouldn't leave me hanging! Or you for that matter," Jake argued, as he usually did. They argued constantly. Nearly every conversation they had was full of strife. Adam could not bring himself to deal with this at the moment.

"Jake, listen to me. Let Markas go on his suicide mission to save Caleb. If Mindflare has him there is nothing that you're going to do to stop him."

"I have to try!"

"No, you're putting yourself in danger and you're gonna get yourself killed!"

"What do you care?"

"Jake, quit being an idiot and listen to me for once. Stay where you are, don't leave the X-Men. Let Markas do what he's gonna do," Typo lowered his tone in hopes to coo his brother into making the right decision.

"Jake, you're gonna get yourself killed!" Typo yelled. He was losing his patience very quickly.

"No I'm not, Adam! In case you forgot I make impenetrable forcefields around myself. Nothing is going to hurt me. I'll be fine," he argued.

"Jake, there is a reason why Cyclops has you stay home for missions. You're reckless! Just go back and stay put. Things are about to get really bad and you're gonna need to be in a safe place," Adam was getting steamed again. He stopped outside of the briefing room. He could only hope that they would start the meeting without him. Nothing would be more awkward or embarrassing than if they waited and all eyes were on him when he walked through the door.

"Well I'm tired of sitting at the kids table. Cyclops has done nothing but look down on me since I showed up on his door. I'm tired of taking his orders, especially when they involve abandoning my friends!"

"Are you and Caleb really that close? I never see the two of you hang out."

"How would you know? You never see me anyway! In case you forgot, he and I are roommates here. You know what Adam, I didn't call to ask for you advise, get your approval or permission. I am _telling_ you what I'm doing so that you can be aware," Jake had a sense of finality it his voice. Typo wanted so bad to talk him out of his folly but he did not have the time. Then again, as annoying as he was, he did not want to lose his younger brother for Caleb's mistakes.

"Jake, do what you want; you always do. I don't want anything to happen to you, so be careful. Things have gone to hell here in Israel. The Remnant's under attack hardcore. I have to go right now. Goodbye, Jake," he said, with as much sentiment as he knew how to muster. In that moment, he cursed his mutation, his way of thinking, his whole existence. His entire life he had lived in exile in his own mind, enslaved by his systematic view on life. He could not even relate to his little brother, the only living relative he had left in the world. He could not bring himself to tell him that he cared.

_Another day…if I get the chance…_

"Bye, Adam!" Jake disconnected. Adam could not shake the feeling that it would be the last time that he ever spoke his little brother.

_He'll be okay; he's right. He makes forcefields and nothing gets through…except telepathy._

He felt his stomach churn at the thought that Jake would be fighting against Mindflare and the other members of The Brotherhood. Markas would be there to fight Mindflare but they were not equals. It was a bad situation and he knew that no one was thinking it through. He wished he could be there. Then again, what good could he do? Shut down their security system? Get himself killed? He was where he was and he was there for a reason. He could be most useful to The Remnant right now and Jake could help save Caleb.

He shook his thought and burst into the briefing room. It did not look like they had begun yet. Prophet, or Ben-Joseph to those who did not know their secret, was addressing the X-Men and the officers of The Remnant.

"We've just received Intel from one of our scouts telling us that an army as been assembled on the plains of Megiddo. They are planning to march on Jerusalem and eradicate any mutants holed up there. They have a way of instantly recognizing whether someone is a mutant or not and what their mutation is. A small portion of their forces have been sent here," as he spoke the room shook a little bit and the sound of explosions on the surface could be heard.

"_Clearly_, our location has been compromised. The enemy is not answering any of our distress calls or warnings to cease fire. We can only assume that they are not interested in negotiations and simply want us dead. It as also only logical to assume that because they were able to find us only because we had workers outside fortifying our perimeter forces that there is a breach in security here at The Remnant," he continued.

"What do you mean 'security breach?'" a mutant in the corner stood up and interjected.

"A rat!" Terra replied, "someone here at The Remnant sold us out. We have been suspecting this for quite some time because of how many of our shipments that were hijacked or destroyed. It was only a matter of time before they compromised our location and handed us all over to the enemy," Terra explained. She looked utterly furious, but not surprised. Typo watched as her eyes scanned the room for a guilty person.

"Terra, that's enough. Regardless of the security breach, the damage is done and the enemy is knocking on our doorstep. We, as the officers and leaders of this faction, need to decide what the best course of action is. As you are well aware, we do have escape routes in the lower parts of our caves so that we can evacuate the base if need be, or we can stand and fight," he explained. Typo had to fight to keep from rolling his eyes. _Of course_ those were the two options. Whenever one's life is threatened there are only two options: flight or fight.

"What do you think we should do?" another mutant asked. This prompted chaos in the briefing room.

"I say that we stand and fight!"

"Are you crazy? There's a whole army out there. There bombing us right now! I have kids here!" one exploded with emotion.

"I say that we try to negotiate with them. We still don't even know who they are?" another piped up. As she did, another explosion shook the room; dust fell from the ceiling and onto their heads. Typo was all up for planning, but if they did not make a decision fast, the caves will collapse and they would be trapped there forever.

"Whatever decision we make, we need to make quickly," he stood and spoke loudly. This was way out of his comfort zone as public speaking was not his forte. Nevertheless, it was what needed to be done. "If we run, everything that you have worked for will be lost, your faction dissipated. If we stand and fight, the probability of victory is slim, they outnumber us at least five-to-one, if not more. However, victory can be ours if we have a good strategy."

"Who is this guy?"

"Yeah, who the hell asked you?

"My name is Typo, I am with the X-Men. That, however, is of little consequence at the moment. At this moment I am in exactly the same position as all of you. All I want to iterate in this is that whatever decision that you come to, it needs to be in timely fashion lest these caves collapse and kill us all," he sat back down. Whether or not his message was even received, it put a great hush on the mayhem that had erupted earlier. At least it would be easier to think and to communicate.

"What do you think, Ezra? What do you think that we should do?" Terra asked, a little bit of spite still in her voice. It was clear she still had a grudge about being deceived.

"Personally, we have worked to hard and too long for the cause of mutant freedom here in Israel. We are not the group of fugitives that started this organization so many years ago. We are a formidable force capable of defending ourselves, and fighting for what we believe in and cherish most. I say that we stand and fight!

"From the beginning, those of us who started The Remnant knew that this day was coming. One day we would have to fight back in open battle against the enemy. That day is today. Even if you will not stand with me, if I have to march alone for the freedom of my people against the enemy, I will not retreat—ever," he spoke with such conviction and emotion that he moved even Typo's heart. He was good at what he did, that much was sure.

"He's right! We stand and fight! We've been waiting for the chance to show the world that we will not tolerate their persecution!" the atmosphere of the room totally changed. They were up in arms and ready to storm the castle, so-to-speak, within seconds of Ben-Joseph's speech.

"What about you, my friends? Can we count on you?" he directed the question to Jean. All eyes were on her. She took a look at her team and sent them a telepathic message.

_We're here to help them. What kind of hypocrites would we be if we did not stand and fight with them after all our talk on being freedom fighters and X-Men in America? Just think; don't speak_.

_You're right. We're here and we're in the same position as they are. There is no way of safe escape and we're a long way from home. We should do what we can_, Typo replied.

Jean must have received similar reactions from the other X-Men. He could not imagine Storm, Colossus or Forge wanting to run away. She stood and walked over to Ben-Joseph.

"We will stand and fight with you. You can count on us," she smiled.

"Good! I'm going to need fighters with your experience. Go ahead and command your X-Men and take Terra with you. She is a valuable asset and a well-trained soldier. I want you to do whatever you can to disrupt the assault on the base until we can mobilize the army to meet them head on. Can you do that?"

"What do you think team? You ready to knock some birds out of the sky and create a diversion for The Remnant?" it was clearly a rhetorical question. With Storm manning the skies, Jean shielding them, Forge and Typo infiltrating their technology and Colossus and Terra pummeling their ground troops, it was easy. They just had to be careful, and hold them off long enough for the army to come in and do what they do best.

The Remnant officers ran off to gather their soldiers, some of them to evacuate the women and children on the base. It left the X-Men, Terra and Prophet alone in the briefing room. Prophet closed and locked the door and took of his holographic defenses, revealing his small, frail form.

"I cannot be of much service to you in combat, but if you stay in direct communication with me, I will let you know if I see anything coming your way," Prophet hung his head; his expression was not very hopeful.

"Is there something that you want to tell us now?" Storm asked, catching on the tone in his voice and the look on his face. They told the story of defeat.

"There is no harm in telling you, I suppose. As I told you before, I am a pre-cog. I can see the future and I have never been wrong. The Remnant, though it will suffer a huge blow to operations and a great loss of lives, will have victory today," he sulked as he spoke.

"The Remnant has victory? Why are you upset about that?" Storm pondered allowed.

"Today is the day that I die, Storm," he stated simply, "as much as I know that death is just a part of life that we must all experience, you will have to forgive me for being less than thrilled."

"You die today? Are you sure?"

"I have seen it, and my prophesies have never been wrong," he forced a smile.

"You cannot change the things that you foresee?" Storm place a hand on his shoulder.

"Every time that I have tried I have failed. In retrospect, my attempts to foil the future have only contributed to the events. It's okay; there is no need to console me. What will be, will be, yes?"

"No," Typo interjected. He could not help himself. He did not believe in fate. He believed that what happened to someone was based on the decisions that they made and on the decisions of those who interacted with them. There was no set series of events that completely governed one's existence. He did not believe in destiny. "There is not fate except that which we make for ourselves."

"For your sake, I hope that you are right," Prophet replied.

"What do you mean for my sake? Is something going to happen to my brother?"

"I was wondering when you were going to ask about Jacob," he smiled and he pulled Adam aside. Storm had lost interest in the conversation and the other X-Men were gathering at the table to discuss the plan of action. He whispered so that no one would hear them.

"What's going to happen to Jake? He's gonna die isn't he? That idiot! I told him to stay put; he never listens," Typo began to unload.

"Jake will be fine. In fact, his mission to save your friend will be successful and he will be deemed a hero in the eyes of many, but he will never be the same after today," Prophet spoke again, with that tone of absolute certainty. It sent a chill down Typo's spine.

"Why? What do you mean?"

"I would not have said anything to you except that I saw in my vision that I am supposed to tell you," he looked at Typo with his lidless eyes with complete compassion. Typo fought the urge to cringe when he said that he was 'supposed' to tell him something. He was not a big fan of precognition or of trying to predict the future. He decided to just listen.

"What? Tell me what?"

"I am supposed to say, "Adam, I am sorry, but you are going to die today in the battle," the words shook the foundations of Typo's world as Prophet spoke.

"What? How?"

"That is all that I said in the vision," Prophet said, dodging the question.

"Tell me what you saw," Typo pleaded. Prophet just looked at him with sorrow. "TELL ME WHAT YOU SAW!" all eyes were on him now. He had seized Prophet's shoulders and was shaking him.

"I will show you instead," he said. Instantly, Typo was transported outside and onto the battlefield. Gunshots and explosions thundered throughout the evening sky. Typo felt like he was in a dream, a nightmare. It felt like when Lindsey had used her power on him. He saw Sentinels everywhere. They were fighting alongside the enemy army which he now saw was the Israeli army. Why would the Sentinels be all the way out here? What was worse was that there was a mobile Mastermold continually repairing damaged Sentinels and producing entirely new ones for the Remnant to fight.

"Typo! You have to do something!" he heard Forge's voice. He looked over and saw Forge. The two of them were crouched behind a rock, shooting at the Mastermold.

"I can't get close enough!" he heard his own voice sound in protest. Seeing himself was quite a mind-blowing experience. Forge reached for his radio.

"Focus all fire on the Mastermold!"

"What the hell is a Mastermold?" demanded a voice from the radio.

"The big robot surrounded by little ones blowing things to smithereens!" Forge yelled back into the radio. Before long, the Mastermold was being bombarded with attacks. The damage was pretty devastating, it fell to its knees and was no longer spewing out small Sentinels—but there was something wrong.

"The Mastermold is going to self-destruct!" Typo heard himself say.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. It's carrying a nuclear warhead along with several other smaller bombs in case it sustains irreparable damage. It's gonna wipe us out!"

"Can you stop it?"

"Not from here! I'm gonna have to get closer. Tell them to cease fire and give me some cover!"

There was a sudden flash of light and Typo and Prophet were in front of the Mastermold. Typo watched as he climbed up the damaged robot trying to get close to its CPU. He gave his full concentration to disarming the warheads on the Mastermold. Within minutes it seemed he was successful.

"Forge, I did it. I disarmed the nuke but I can't stop the remedial bombs. Tell my brother that…" and with that, the Mastermold exploded, he and Prophet were returned to the briefing room. It seemed like it had taken several minutes to lapse but in reality the vision had transpired in the time it takes to process a single thought.

"What if I don't go? What if I just leave now?"

"Then the nuke in the Mastermold will be detonated and The Remnant, along with your friends will be destroyed. I hate to put this kind of weight on your shoulders, Adam, but you are the only one who can save us, and it will require your life if you do. I hope that you will do the right thing," Prophet rested an arm on his shoulder and walked away sorrowfully.

"I…" Typo began but he could not finish. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Was Prophet's vision one hundred percent accurate? Now that he had seen the vision for himself and knew how the events played out, could he do something to change them? Was he really going to die today?

"Adam?" Prophet turned and looked at him as if he had forgotten to say something. Typo was hanging off of his every word.

"Two things: one, don't tell your friends. They will not understand and they will try to prevent your death and thus, doom us all. Two, if there is anything that you wish to say to your brother, I suggest that you do not delay any longer. Remember, in this life all that really matters are the ones that we love," Prophet said.

"Just leave me alone. I won't tell anyone. We have a battle to win."

"Thank you, Adam," Prophet said.

"My name is Typo," he hissed bitterly.

"Typo—thank you," he repeated.

"For what?"

"For doing what needs to be done—for saving us all," Prophet replied with his sad smile.

"I haven't done anything yet! I haven't made the choice of what I am going to do," he pointed out, "I can still change my mind. I could do something different with the Mastermold, I can work faster. I can change the future!"

"I know that whatever you do, Typo, you will make the right decision. In this instance, my only advice to you is to trust your heart instead of your head, for once," and with that, Prophet walked away, likely to his own death.

Typo stood at a crossroads, one path lead to the salvation of The Remnant and his friends, but ultimately to his own demise. Taking the other, he had a chance at saving his own life at the cost of those of thousands. One of those people was Forge, Typo's closest friend.

_What am I going to do? I don't know how I can make this decision. How do I face the future, when I know exactly what's going to happen? Is knowingly walking into my death the same as suicide? Is knowingly walking away from saving people murder?_

"Typo? Are you coming?" Forge walked closer to him, "are you alright my friend?"

Typo took and deep breath, firm in his decision. For some strange reason, Caleb's voice was echoing through his head. He remembered something that he always said, a witty little saying he was somewhat famous for.

"It is not our abilities that show us what we are, but our choices," he said, or a paraphrase of that.

"Yeah, Forge let's go," he said, forcing a smile. Even if he was marching into his death, even if his life had not been what he had wanted it to be, it was never too late to start living the way he wanted to.


	41. The Cost of Manipulation

"Titan, please share with us the information that you acquired, where you got it from and why you are here," Cyclops said.

"I can't tell you..."

"As you can see...I'm not having the best of days today," Cyclops looked through his visor at Titan, "I need to know who it came from for the simple question as to whether or not it's reliable."

Titan thought for a minute. Mystique had given him instructions not to mention her name, but Garrett had made no such request. Clearly, they both had a bad history with the X-Men but it seemed they would be slightly more inclined to forgive Hybrid than Mystique.

"He is known to mutants as Hyrid," Titan decided it was time to put all of the cards on the table. He was not very good at playing the deception game anyway.

"Hybrid! You know that he's the one who broke in here and busted Mindflare out, right? We're supposed to take his word for it?" the X-Man they called Gambit suddenly piped up, his Cajun accent hung heavily in his speech.

"You can take my word for it or not. I was told that you were the people who could get something done about this. On the island of Genosha, beneath the surface there is a factory making Sentinels. You said youselves that you have already had a few run-ins with Sentinels. They are resurfacing. Trask has upgraded them, making them quite a bit more powerful than the last batch. He's making them smaller and easier to manufacture.

"I have all the information that you could possibly want, satellite photos, inside information. I'm telling you that this is happening and the launch date is not so far away. Are you gonna help me do something or not?" Titan demanded.

There was a pause. The X-Men looked back and forth at each other. How could they sit and do nothing? They were the most powerful mutant faction in the United States, and were the only ones capable of stopping the Sentinels, especially a whole factory of them. Titan was losing his patience. He gave each of them a cold, hard stare with a look that dared them to do something.

"He's right, Cyke, we gotta do something," Rogue admitted.

"We'll do more than that; we're going to stop them," he announced. Titan felt a wave of relief wash over him. He could not do it alone, but with the X-Men they had a fighting chance.

"We're all here save for Storm, Jean and Beast, and we have a friend coming with us. Titan, for those of you who aren't aware brings more than valuable information to the table. He has combat training and experience, his mutation is increased strength and speed, along with a healing factor," Cyclops explained. All eyes were on Titan now.

_Cyclops, please skip the formalities and let's get to it,_ he found himself eager to get on with planning the mission.

"We will need to go in without notice, that much is for sure. They're not going to let us into the factory by just taking a sub and coming right through the front door," Cyclops explained.

"Why don't we land on the surface, find an old mining shaft and go through that way? I'll phase us through any hard-to-get-to places...or you can blast your way through?" a slender, pretty brunette offered an idea. Titan was still doing his best to remember names.

"That's one idea, anyone else?"

"Do we have a sub? I mean, how are we gonna get it all the way to Genosha even if we do?"

"We would have to fly and dive, an idea I'm not to fond of," Cyclops admitted, "I have to say, stealth-landing on the surface and finding a way underground is the best strategy we have thus far."

"What if they have set up perimeters? Other defenses?" Jubliee asked.

"We'll just have to do what we do best, Cherie," said the man with a Cajun accent. He was sitting across from Titan with his feet propped up on the table, fiddling with some playing cards.

Jubilee summoned a colorful display of energy in her hands, stood and faced the Cajun.

"Call me Cherie one more time, Gambit! One more time!" she looked menacing but Titan seriously doubted if she would really attack him. Gambit did not seem the least bit intimidated either.

"Let's stay on point, please. Anyone have any objection or reason why we shouldn't head out for Genosha right now?" Cyclops was getting a little impatient. There was only silence and so he continued, "as you can see on the schematics in front of you, we need to find a way to get straight to the assembly line and destroy the Mastermold. Before we can do that, we could very well have an small army of Trask's men waiting for us. If we set of any alarm, which I am sure that we will, we will need to gain access to the Central Control Room in order to get to the Mastermold. We're not going to split for this one, staying together is the best way to ensure our survival in combat. We're going to be compact in the hallways but we have enough resource and firepower between us all to do this.

"Nightcrawler and Shadowcat will be able to get past any doors or walls in our way, Iceman can create barricades behind us so that we're not easily followed, the chances of coming up against Sentinels is very likely, Titan is going to give us a briefing as to the best way to destroy them," Cyclops turned the attention over to Titan.

"As you know, there was a detail of about thirty Sentinels that showed up on your front door not too long ago. I had the privilege of taking care of them with the help of some of the other X-Men. If Beast were here he could explain the technology a little better than I could, but in short, these Sentinels have an extremely smart CPU in them that allows them to repair themselves using any materials at their exposure, more specifically the pieces of other Sentinels. Unless they are completely obliterated or their CPU is destroyed, they will continue to repair themselves.

"Clearly that creates a problem. The good news is, because of the intel that we've recieved, we know where the CPU is located and how to destroy it. As if it were their brains or something, its located inside of their heads. Now, their faces are enforced and armored, almost impossible to penetrate, but Mr. Trask, in his infinite wisdom created these machines with a weak spot. If you can get to the back of their heads, the metal there is not armored and can be penetrated easily. That is the best way to deal with these machines," he explained, he nodded to Cyclops that he was done.

"These Sentinels are much smaller than the ones that we've dealt with in the past, seven feet tall, I believe, so they will be able to get inside of the corridors with us. Best case scenario with all of this, is that there is some sort of self-destruct sequence that we can access from the Central Control Room to destroy the base in one shot. If not, there might be an EMP emitter that is set to shut down the Sentinels in case of an emergency. If we're not lucky enough to have even that, then we'll have to do things the old fashioned way," Cyclops smiled.

"I like that way," Rogue said, punching her fist into her hand, "bust em up real good!" Titan looked at Rogue and frowned. She was very pregnant and he could not imagine that she would be going on the mission. He was forward and bold enough to just ask her.

"Excuse me, Rogue?"

"Yes, darlin?"

"You're not going on the mission are you? I mean, you're pregnant and everything," he felt dumb stating the obvious.

"Shucks, no I ain't goin? Are you crazy or somethin!" she asked playfully.

"Rogue will stay here in the War Room and she will be contacting us through our communicators, eyeing the schematics in case we take a wrong turn or something of that sort," Cyclops explained.

"Good to know," Titan noted aloud.

"As Titan explained, there is no time to waste, please get suited up, we leave in one hour," Cyclops ordered, "you're dismissed."

Titan started to stand up and go but Cyclops stopped him.

"Not you, Titan. I need to speak with you in private," Cyclops beckoned for him to move to the seat closest to him. He shrugged and took his seat. They waited until the War Room cleared out.

"I need to know where you got this information, Titan," Cyclops lowered his voice and his gaze to Titan.

"Sorry, I can't tell you that."

"Why?"

"I have my reasons."

"I can only assume that the reason you don't want to tell me is because it came from someone who doesn't have good standing with us. There are only two groups capable of coming across this information that I know of, both of them call themselves The Brotherhood. That leads to believe that this information must have come from Mindflare or Mystique. Since Mindflare tried to kill you I am going to assume that Mystique gave you this information," Cyclops searched Titan for any clue that he was on the money.

Titan remained silent. He only returned Cyclops' cold hard stare.

"I know that Mystique wants to keep that all under wraps considering we're not exactly friends, but I know that she is resourceful. The only thing that I don't trust is the fact that she is also deceptive. I am trying to understand why she has not tried to take care of this herself. I know that she has friends in high places...low places too, who could do this efficiently enough.

"I am not sure how well you know her but let me tell you that you can't trust her. There is always more to the story with Mystique. If I find out that you are working with her to lead us into a trap, I am letting you know now that I will deal with you personally and quite harshly," Cyclops warned.

Titan felt anger swelling in him. He had done nothing but try to help them since he had showed up on their door and all he had really been faced with was distrust and disbelief. Sure, the information had come from Mystiqe and it did not take knowing her for years to know that she was scandalous. The thought suddenly crossed his mind that Mystique could be leading them into a trap, all of them. It did not seem likely. He was there when she told Hybrid about the plans, he was there and saw the look of genuine concern in her eyes as she spoke of what needed to be done.

Titan supressed his anger and let his reason take over. Cyclops was being a good leader. He was protecting those he led. Titan would be asking the same questions were the shoe on the other foot. He remembered some of the psychology of being a mercenary that Deadpool had taught him.

"Never say more than what needs to be, if that," he always said, "information is the most powerful weapon you can have over an enemy."

_The X-Men are not my enemies,_ Nathan thought to himself, _far from it_.

He decided that his loyalties were with himself. He would stand by his own personal convictions and would answer to God...no one else.

"Where I got my information is my own business. As to whether or not you can trust me, I can only ask that you give me the opportunity to prove myself. I give you my word, for what it is worth, that I am here only to help you destroy this factory. I don't want Sentinels running around killing mutants anymore than you do," Titan explained.

"Fair enough. In the meantime, you have given me no reason to distrust you, and Nightmare and Hypno have both vouched for your character, so you get the benefit of the doubt," Cyclops stood and extended his hand. Titan stood and shook it.

"I'd better get ready," Titan turned to get his equipment.

Now that Cyclops had his trust, or something like it, his mind was free to wander. He decided that he would hop over to the other War Room to see what the status of the mission was. He walked to the room that was across the hall and to the left. When he was given a tour he remembered seeing the other War Room. The door allowed him access and opened automatically when he was within proximity of it.

He walked in and saw that it was empty. Surely they had not planned their entire mission already! He decided to go to the room where they kept their gear. Maybe they were already suiting up. He walked in and saw only the older X-Men getting their gear.

"Have you seen Lindsey...Nightmare?" he asked Jubilee. She shook her head and shrugged.

"Did you check the other War Room?"

"Yeah, they weren't there. I figured I would check here. Where else would they be?"

"They could be in the hangar? Do you know where that is? I can show you," she offered, putting down a handful of communicators.

"No, thanks. I know where it is. I'll just see if they're there," he turned and ran to the hangar. He was starting to get nervous. There was no way that Markas had found where The Brotherhood was keeping Caleb, and come up with some hare-brained plan to save him already. He walked in the hangar to find that no one was there.

_Where could they be?_

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Lindsey's number. After five rings all he got was a voicemail. Their goodbye was not exactly good enough for him. He was hoping to talk to her a little more about her decision. He did not think it was wise that she go running off an another mission in the state that she was in. She had to be led around by the arm for crying out loud. She had not been able to use her power since she had been injured.

He knew her heart. Even though she loved him and wanted to be with him, she loved and cared for Caleb too. If she did stay here in the safety of the mansion with Rogue, sure nothing could happen to her, but it would never really sit right with her, especially if Caleb were killed or hurt. In Lindsey's case, sometimes she was too good for her own good, if that made any sense at all. Titan would have been willing to help in the mission to save Caleb, even after all he had done. Titan understood Cyclops' view of protocol and rules but if it had Titan's loved ones in jeopardy he knew that he would have done the same thing: do anything that you can to save them with any and all disregard to the rules as necssary. The problem with that was that he had to be on the Sentinel mission. No one had studied the layout of the base more than him and none of them had fought the Sentinels with him and the younger X-Men.

He stood and gazed into space, thinking if there were any other way of reaching her. He ran back to the room and looked over the communicators.

"Do you know what frequency that they would be using?" he asked Jubilee.

"They usually use 141.25," she replied. He looked down at the small, hand-held communicator and began to turn the dial to change the frequency. He hit the transmit button and gave her a hail.

"Lindsey, this is Nathan. Can you hear me?" There was nothing. He took a deep breath and tried his hardest not to get upset. He tried to put himself in the mentality that she would be find, but the logic in him said that she was in danger. She was going, with her powers not working, on a mission against one of the most dangerous mutant factions in the world led by a murderous sociopath. Needless to say, he was worried.

_Keep her safe_...he silently prayed. He found himself left to gather his gear with no choice but to move foward with his own mission.

* * *

The onslaught against The Remnant was presently focused on the east side of the rocks. This allowed the X-Men a small window to go out the south side entrance undetected by the Israeli army. Typo was covered in gear, weapons and ammunition. He was carrying a .45 caliber side arm, some grenades and various explosives, but his prize was the PSG1 sniper rifle. Since he had been training with Forge, he had discovered that he was a natural sniper. He was quiet, patient and knew when to take the perfect shot. He was not sure he would be doing too much with it in this particular battle but he still liked the comfort of having the rifle and being able to retaliate from long-range.

In light of the prophesy about his death there was not a whole lot that was cheering his spirits. The biggest problem with it was that he believed it. Though he had never looked over Prophet's file and had not seen any scientific or mathematical explanation of his mutation, he doubted that he could have come to any kind of authority in The Remnant if his predicitons did not come true.

Then again, he said something about having the reputation as a fraud. The only reason for that would be either that he had given a prediction that did not come true or he had lied about it. Try as he might, Typo could not think of a reason that would benefit his cause to lie and be seen as a fraud. He had to know. He had to know if there was a _chance_ that he could be wrong.

"Terra," he said on their way out. She stopped and looked at him.

"Yes?

"I need to ask Prohpet something. What is his frequency?"

"Channel seventeen," she replied with a troubled look on her face, "what's wrong?"

"Go on without me. I'll catch up. It will only take a second," he smiled, hoping he could coax her into giving him a moment alone.

"Okay," she said with an unsure look upon her face. As she turned to walk away, Typo dialed into the radio signal.

"Prophet come in," Typo spoke aloud, technopathically transmitting his voice.

"This is Prophet, over."

"This is Typo, over."

"Go ahead Typo, over."

"Have you ever been wrong?"

"What?"  
"Have any of your prophesies ever been wrong...ever?"

"No, the events surrounding the peron I have a vision about have always happened...but..."

"But what?"

"I've only ever told one other person about events that would occur in their life. Because they knew ahead of time, they had the ability to make a choice, and they chose to change it," he explained sadly.

"So I can change it?"

"Yes, in a matter of speaking, you can. As I told you, you are the only one here who can stop the Mastermold, and if you leave The Remnant will perish."

"I'm not leaving. I've made my decision to stay. But since I know what is going to happen, I can change it?"

"In so many words, yes," he replied sounding unsure.

"What do I have to do to get a straight answer out of you?"  
"If you know what happens in your future, you can avoid it and change it entirely. This is why I am known as a fraud. I warn people of when and how they are going to die and they avoid it completely. The fate of The Remnant and perhaps mutantkind depend on your sacrifice for our survival. You may be the most important person, the key player in this war," he said at last.

"Why me? I'm not strong, I am not powerful, I've got a little bit of money, nothing to make a difference! Why me? Why am I so important?"

"You said that you don't believe in fate so I'll do my best to put it in terms that you can accept. Through a series of events out of your control you are here in this place and this time. You are the only one who can do what needs to be done in order to ensure the survival of mutantkind. I'm sorry, Typo but I don't see coincidence, I see providence. You were chosen for this very purpose! It is your destiny!"

At this, Typo turned the radio off and huffed of to catch up with the others. He had more important things to worry about than crazy Prophet and his predictions of death, despair and destiny. He looked out on the horizon and saw the battle, and his soul was prepared.

* * *

"How long before the machine is finished?" Mindflare asked, trying to sound suave and mask the impatience in his voice. He was not having the best couple of days. Nearly a week ago he had lost Grendel, a ferocious part of his team and just yesterday his prisoner had killed Zeus without even having the use of his power. He was not emotionally attached to either one. For a while, everyone thought that Grendel was his son. That was because Mindflare had altered the boy's mind to believe that. They were not even slightly related. When Mindflare picked him up he was yearning for a positive male role-model in his life, because of the sorry excuse his real father had been. Mindflare had _nurtured _him and given him what he wanted.

"It shouldn't be long now," replied the tall, broad-shouldered man.

"Can you be a little more specific?"

"It could be as early as a few hours and as late as tomorrow afternoon. Is that specific enough for you?" the broad-shouldered man was cocky and out of line. He was, however serving Mindflare's purposes at the moment.

"Excellent. You are sure that it will work?"

"Yes. It works right now," the broad-shouldered man replied.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"It's not stable right now, if you hook the kid up to the machine and use it, you could create a black hole within our atmosphere," he explained with a grave expression on his face.

"A black hole? Really? You'll have to forgive me, but I am somewhat of a lay man when it comes to physics and black holes and such, could you elaborate in terms that I'll understand?"

"His power, as I told you, deals with anti-matter. I'm not sure why the X-Men didn't figure this out, maybe the did and they didn't want to tell the kid how dangerous he really was. The way his power works is like this: He is forcing matter between him, point A and you, point B, in a matter of nanoseconds, instantaneous to someone who would not know otherwise. That kind of mass and acceleration creates a pretty awesome energy, as you can imagine."

"How could this cause a black hole?"

"Well, black holes, in theory anyway, are anti-matter. Most experts agree that a black hole is, or at least can be cause by, a large amount of matter condensed upon itself," he paused to see if Mindflare was following. Mindflare had already tapped into his mind's eye so that he could see what the man was seeing in his imagination.

"Ah, and that is exactly how the boy's power works," Mindflare nodded.

"Yes. It's a small wonder that he hasn't cause one yet. Lucky for us," the broad-shouldered man sighed heavily.

"What would happen if a black hole was to be created within our atmosphere?" Mindflare asked, though he could imagine the results?"

"The end of planet Earth as we know it. The black hole would slowly suck all of matter into, condensing it down to the atom and blowing out of it's other end. Some experts say that it would be at a fixed rate, others that it would begin to suck things in at a perpetually increasing rate. Either way, we won't be able to stop it once its starts."

"You're sure?"

"The only person who would have a shot is the kid himself, unless you know someone else with powers like his?" the broad-shouldered man asked.

"Unfortunately, I do not. What do you think the odds are of him causing a black hole if he is attached to the machine?"

"Considering how you plan on using the machine, slim to none. You are spreading his energy out in a semi-spherical radius so that it will act more as a bomb. The matter that is displaced has room to escape and will return, in one form or another almost as quickly," he relied, Mindflare raised an eyebrow, slightly confused.

"In other words, every time you fire this thing, it's going to be like having two bombs in one. The first one, the big one, will destroy most anything it comes in contact with, once it reaches its limit, the matter will contract and come back to where it was to begin with, an aftershock of sorts."

"How powerful will the aftershock be?"

"It will feel like a heavy gust of wind, might not someone off of their feet but unlikely to do any additional damage."

"You're sure?"

"No. Mindflare, this is all theory. If you connect the kid to the machine and Catalyst to him, there's no telling what will happen."

"Can the machine be used with him alone? Is Catalyst necessary?"

"Yes, the machine can be fired with him alone, but the strain of gathering that much anti-matter energy would likely kill him. Catalyst is there not to increase the intensity of the blast, but to make sure he has enough energy to survive the procedure."

"What's to say that it won't have a snowball effect and just make the blast big enough to destroy everything?" Mindflare asked.

"There's all kinds of protocols on here to keep him from gathering more energy than what is needed to make the blast, but anything could happen," he admitted.

"You really aren't very sure about much are you?" Mindflare smirked.

"I'm a scientist; I have to admit the possibility of anything."

"What is the probability that this machine will fail and kill us all?"

"I have faith in its design, so I'll say one in a million or more," the broad-shouldered man took his turn to smirk now.

"Well then, it's time to make our intentions known and demand our ransom," Mindflare laughed, somewhat maniacally. He could never have hoped for such a break. Soon, and very soon, he would have the power he needed to seize control of the government, force the humans to step down so that mutants could take their rightful place. He was willing to spare their lives if they ceased in their oppression and stepped down from their right to rule. He was equally willing to start destroying their capitals and military strongholds if they did not consent. Full-scale war was on and he had the most powerful weapon ever constructed.

He had, in his grasp, power that money and fame could not buy or gain. If he needed to, he would call all the mutants willing to his sanction and destroy the entire country—the entire world! They could always build a new one after the humans were gone. What a sweet day was coming, what a sweet day indeed.

"Sir?" he spun around and saw Aquas holding a cellphone in her hands.

"Yes?"  
"There's a call for you; I think that you'll want to take it personally," her expression was grim as she handed the phone to him, "it's Hybrid."

"_What_?!" he exclaimed. That was the worst news he could have hoped for. There was no telling what Hybrid would do if he found out they were holding his older brother. He snatched the phone.

"Hello?"  
"You bastard! I'm not even going to give you the chance to let him go, although I let you die quickly if you do. I'm coming for you and coming soon," he said coolly.

"By the time you get here, it will be too late. Certainly you see the reason in using him," he argued.

"I see your side but the fact of the matter is that he is my brother and I have no intention of allowing you to hold him against his will and use him for something he would never be a part of," he shot back.

"Very well, I'll be waiting for you, Hybrid," Mindflare replied.

"Don't worry, I won't keep you for too long," and the connection was cut.

"Aquas, get every capable mutant guarding all entrances, I want to know as soon as someone gets here. Your orders are to kill anyone who comes near the hideout from the outside, even if its me," he replied.

"Sir?"

"Mystique can disguise herself and Hybrid is in with her! Damn it, girl just do as I say!"

"Yes sir," she looked at him with a frightened expression as she ran off to do his bidding.

_What rotten luck...I finally have the means to end this conflict and I have sabotage from within my own kind_, he thought to himself.

_No matter. By the time Hybrid reaches me it will be too late. It is coming, the last battle, my Armageddon._

_Soon..._


End file.
